Munich - Royal Residence Residenz

Access to the Festsaalbau (Banqueting Hall wing), the interior of which suffered severe bomb damage in the war, is from the Hofgarten. During rebuilding in 1952-53 the former Throne Room behind the portico was turned into a banqueting and concert hall with seating for 1270. At the same time it was rechristened the Neuer Herkulessaal after the Antwerp tapestries illustrating the myth of Hercules (by M. de Bos; ca. 1565 to 1579) which now hang there. Since the war the east wing of the Festsaalbau has been the home of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, whose old building in Neuhauser Strasse was destroyed in 1944. On the ground floor to the west of the Festsaalbau are a suite of exhibition rooms housing the State Egyptian Collection.

The State Coin Collection is accommodated in part of the building between the Kaiserhof and the Kapellenhof.

The principal features of the exterior of the Royal Residence in Munich reflect two different phases of building. The Neo-Classical facade of the Königsbau on the south side of the complex (Max-Joseph-Platz), which mirrors in style the Renaissance palaces of Florence, and the facade of the Festsaalbau on the north side (Hofgartenstrasse), were both built in the early 19th C. The handsome west front was built at the beginning of the 17th C., with trompe-l'oeil painting in tones of gray and blue to give the effect of architectural form and decoration. The two doorways, framed in red marble like triumphal arches, are surmounted by coats of arms and figures of the Virtues and guarded by bronze lions. In a niche in the center of the facade is a bronze figure (by Hans Krumpper, 1616) of Patrona Bavariae (Patroness of Bavaria) - the Virgin as Queen of Heaven with the Infant Jesus on a crescent moon.

Three of the seven courtyards (Kaiserhof, Kapellenhof, Brunnenhof) have trompe-l'oeil painting like that on the west front. The narrow Kapellenhof (Chapel Court) was originally an old lane, the Jägergassl, which was incorporated into the Residenz. The largest of the seven courtyards, the Apothekenhof (Pharmacy Court), is without decoration.

The most handsome of the courtyards is the eight-sided Brunnenhof (Fountain Court) flanking the Antiquarium, which was built in 1610. In the center of the courtyard stands the large Wittelsbacher-Brunnen (Wittelsbach Fountain, 1611-23), erected in honor of Duke Otto von Wittelsbach. The bronze figure of the Duke is by Hans Krumpper (1610-20); the reclining river gods (representing the Danube, the Isar, the Lech and the Inn), the standing figures of gods and goddesses (Ceres, Vulcan, Neptune, Juno) and the grotesque fishes, monsters and frogs are by Hubert Gerhard and his pupils (ca. 1600).