Altes Residenztheater (Cuvilliestheater)
The Altes Residenztheater, also known as the Cuvilliéstheater, is located on the east side of the Residenz in Munich. Built by François Cuvilliés in 1750-55 it is the finest Roccoco Theater with
tiered boxes in Germany. Nowadays used for selected performances, it is well worth visiting. The magnificent carved woodwork of the auditorium, with its four tiers of boxes, Elector's box and proscenium boxes, was safely stored away during World War II, thus allowing the Theater to be reconstructed anew in the Apothekenpavilion in 1958.
Architecturally the arrangement of the Theater, which has its entrance in the Brunnenhof and a delightful foyer, is highly successful. The rare elegance and rich hues of the intimate Roccoco interior make this a unique setting for Late Baroque operas. It was here in 1781 that Mozart's "Idomeneo" was given its first performance.
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.
Munich Treasury
The treasures assembled by the Dukes and Electors over the centuries make this one of the largest, most important and most valuable collections of its kind. The Munich Treasury was founded by Duke
Albrecht V (1550-79) with the "house jewels" of the Wittelsbachs, the ownership of which could not be transferred to another family. In the reign of Karl Theodor further treasures came from Heidelberg, Düsseldorf and Mannheim. The latest items in the collection are the insignia of the kingdom of Bavaria established in 1806.
Arrangement of the rooms:
Room 1
Early and late Middle Ages: the Emperor Charles the Bald's prayer-book (ca. 860), crown of the Empress Kunigunde, reliquary of the True Cross which belonged to the Emperor Henry II, a cross which belonged to Queen Gisela (all ca. 1000), English Queen's crown (ca. 1370).
Room II
Late Gothic and Early Renaissance: ostrich-egg ciborium (ca. 1440), Rappoltstein Goblet (ca. 1540).
Room III
Statuette of St George (Munich, ca. 1599).
Room IV
Religious art of the Renaissance and Baroque periods: domestic altar of Albrecht V (ca. 1560), domestic altar (southern Germany, ca. 1580), Augsburg Crucifix (by G. Petel, ca. 1630).
Room V
Insignia and orders of the Bavarian kings, including insignia of the Emperor Charles VII, ceremonial sword, and ruby jewelry which belonged to Queen Therese.
Room VIII
High and Late Renaissance: gold and amber work including fine goblets and ornamental vessels.
Room IX
Baroque and Roccoco: gold work, tableware, toiletries.
Room X
Non-European art and craftwork, including ivories from Ceylon, Turkish daggers and Chinese porcelain.
Royal Palace Museum
Among the most interesting rooms of the Royal Residence Museum are:
Vestibül
The Vestibule in the Grüne Galerie (Green Gallery) range: built in 1733 by François Cuvilliés the Elder.
Ahnengalerie
The Gallery of Ancestors in the former Gartensaal (Garden Room): probably by Joseph Effner (1726-30), the walls being adorned with 121 portraits of Bavarian rulers, mainly Wittelsbachs and their ancestors.
Porzellankabinett
The Porcelain Room: designed by François Cuvilliés the Elder (1730-33); Nymphenburg, Frankenthal, Sèvres, Vienna, Meissen and Würzburg porcelain in cabinets around the walls.
Grottenhof
The Grotto Court: a Mannerist grotto constructed from tufa, crystals and shells (1581-86), with a bronze figure of Mercury (probably by Giovanni da Bologna) and the Perseus Fountain by Hubert Gerhard (ca. 1590).
Antiquarium
The Antiquarium: the first part of the present Residenz to be built (by Egkl, 1569-71), a hall 69m/226ft long with a barrel-vaulted roof and side vaults over the windows. Along the walls are antique busts and statues collected by Duke Albrecht V. Allegorical paintings on the vaulting by Peter Candid. In the window recesses are more than a hundred views of Bavaria towns and castles by Hans Donauer.
Schlachtensäle
Battle Rooms: formerly antechambers to Ludwig I's apartments. Paintings of scenes from the Napoleonic Wars (1805-14) by Peter Hess, Wilhelm von Kobell, Albrecht Adam, Karl von Heideck and Dietrich Monten, which once adorned the officers' banqueting hall in the Festsaalbau, have now replaced the original murals (by Ludwig von Schwanthaler and Schnorr von Carolsfeld) illustrating the legend of the Argonauts and the poems of Hesiod and Homer, which sadly were completely destroyed.
Porzellankammern, (19th C. porcelain)
The Porcelain Rooms (19th C. porcelain): mainly from the Nymphenburg and Berlin factories and French potteries.
Oriental Porcelain Collection
Since 1920 the Rückwärtige Kurfürstenzimmern (Rear Royal Apartments) have housed a superb collection of oriental porcelain. The artistic perfection achieved by the Chinese porcelain in particular is noteworthy. - The walls are adorned with 17th C. Polish tapestries presented to the House of Wittelsbach as part of a dowry.
Allerheiligengang
All Saints' Corridor (so called because it gave access to the Court Church of All Saints, the Allerheiligkirche, now ruined): cycle of landscape frescoes on Italian travel (1830-33), originally painted by Carl Rottmann for the arcades of the Hofgarten.
Charlottenzimmer
Charlotte Rooms: named after Maximilian I's daughter, whose apartments they were from 1814 to 1816; typical examples of early 19th C. interior decoration.
Reiche Zimmer
Rich Apartments: a series of rooms round the Grottenhof; sumptuous Roccoco interiors by Joseph Effner and François Cuvilliés the Elder (1726-37). The stucco decoration by Johann Bapist Zimmermann was reinstated in 1956-60.
Grüne Galerie
The Green Galerie: richly furnished with valuable paintings from the 16th-18th C.
Parade- schlafzimmer
The State Bedroom: a magnificent room designed by François Cuvilliés the Elder in 1730; stucco ceiling, originally by Johann Baptist Zimmermann, restored in the 1950s; carvings by Wenzeslaus Miroffsky. Some of the furniture was made in Paris.
Spiegel- kabinett
Little Hall of Mirrors: also by François Cuvilliés the Elder; stucco ceiling by Johann Baptist Zimmermann and carvings by Wenzeslaus Miroffsky (largely restored after the devastation of the last war).
Miniaturen kabinett
Miniature Room: 129 portrait miniatures by German, French, Dutch and Flemish painters of the 16th-18th C. set in the walls
Nibelungen- säle
Nibelung Rooms: large frescoes of scenes from the "Nibelungenlied", by Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Olivier and Hauschild (19th C.).
Porzellan- kammern (18th C. porcelain)
The Porcelain Rooms around the Grottenhof: 18th C. European porcelain - Meissen, Frankenthal, Nymphenburg, Sèvres, Vienna, Ludwigsburg, Berlin, Höchst, Wedgwood, Kassel and Fulda.
Hofkapelle
The Court Chapel: dating from the beginning of the 17th C. and rebuilt after the Second World War.
Reliquien- kammer
Reliquary Room: sacred relics preserved by Maximilian I and his successors. Also a collection of valuable goldsmiths' work from the 16th-18th C.
Reiche Kapelle
Rich Chapel: Maximilian I's private audience chamber, sumptuously decorated by Hans Krumpper.
Silberkammern
Silver Rooms: 17th and 18th c. silver, mainly German and French; the Wittelsbach table silver (3,500 items).
Steinzimmer
Stone Rooms: so called on account of the stucco-marble decoration (1612-17) reflecting Maximilian I's conception of the world; sumptuous furnishings (sculpture, furniture, 17th c. tapestries) and collections of majolica and weaponry (1770-1790).
Wohnräume König Ludwigs I
King Ludwig I's Apartments (upper floor of the Königsbau): designed by Leo von Klenze. Open to the public again after extensive rebuilding, the ceilings, floors and wall decoration are faithful reproductions of the originals. Most of the furniture and other items of furnishing survived the war. Materials used for the upholstery, curtains and baldachines were copied from rediscovered remnants of the original fabrics.
Banqueting Hall Wing
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.
Exterior
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).
State Coin Collection
Established by Duke Albrecht V in 1570, the State Coin Collection has been housed in the Residenz since 1960. One of the largest collections of coins in the world, it embraces all aspects of
numismatics, also the history of money and of medallions.
One section is devoted to cut stones (gems and cameos), another to outstanding examples of the medallion-maker's art from the Renaissance to the present day, mainly from Germany and Italy.
A selection of coins etc. from ancient, medieval and modern times illustrates the history of coinage in Europe and elsewhere.
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