JEWISH MUSEUM MUNICH
In 1928, a group of individuals interested in Jewish history and culture gathered for the first time with the intent of creating a Jewish museum in Munich. The project lay dormant until it was revived almost two decades after the Shoah, by Hans Lamm, longtime head of the Jewish community. Though Lamm was not able to realize the goal of creating the museum, the ambitious efforts of a private gallery owner in the 1980s gave the project its decisive momentum.
It is thanks to this individual, Richard Grimm, that the Jewish Museum now awaits its Grand Opening. Grimm decided to open a private Jewish museum in a small space on Maximilianstraße, measuring little more than 300 square feet and despite these cramped quarters, the collection soon enjoyed enormous popularity. As a rare source of Jewish history and culture in Munich, Grimm’s highly frequented museum made the need for a larger, public institution apparent. When the temporary museum closed for financial reasons ten years later, the Jewish community took in the Grimm Collection and arranged for a provisional exhibition space at Reichenbachstraße 27. In recent years, the Museum of the City of Munich presented exhibitions and events there in collaboration with the City Archives, ending in the spring of 2006. The opportunity for creating a Jewish Museum as a municipal project finally presented itself when the Jewish community decided to build its new main synagogue and community center at St.-Jakobs-Platz.
Even as it opens, the Jewish Museum Munich looks back on a long, colourful prehistory. Its collection is not a systematic one, governed instead by the fragmentary nature of its Jewish history holdings and by a chance assembly of objects. The Jewish Museum will take advantage of the resulting avenues of possibility by presenting temporary and changing exhibitions. Our goal is to function as a flexible and dynamic forum where a variety of themes can be explored.
On our three exhibition floors, visitors gain a world of insights into Jewish life and culture in Munich. A special section geared towards young as well as adult audiences provides in-depth information on Jewish history and religion. On each gallery floor there will be a study area – Learning Centre or Library – where visitors will be able to explore issues of interest and find answers to their questions
Distance from hotel: 1,0 km
THE VIKTUALIENMARKT
The Viktualienmarkt is the largest fruit and vegetable market in Munich.
In 1807, a herb market was established at the site of the former Heiliggeistspital and has been increasing in size ever since then. Even a hundred years ago, it was sizeable.
Right next to the Viktualienmarkt is the site of the “Schrannenhalle”,built under King Maximilian I according to a French model. This was a market hall with a length of over 430 metres, where grain was sold. After burning down in 1932, it was rebuilt with the original wrought-iron frames and the new “Schrannenhalle” was inaugurated in September 2005. It now houses a market, shops, restaurants and cultural venues.
Have a look at the hustle and bustle at Viktualienmarkt through this webcam: http://www.viktualiencam.de
Distance from hotel: 1,2 km
BAVARIAN STATE OPERA
Classical opera house with an impressive exterior and a magnificent interior. The theater’s ensemble has a long-standing tradition of excellence.
The State Opera seats 2,100 people. Five rows of stalls and the royal box overlook the circular auditorium .
Distance from hotel: 1,4 km
OLD AND NEW PINAKOTHEK
The Old Pinakothek is one of the oldest and most important art galleries in the world. More than 800 masterpieces by European artists bring to life the development of art from the Middle Ages to the end of the Rococo period.
With over 12,000 m² of exhibition space, the new Pinakothek houses four major collections under one roof:
- Art: Collection of Modern Art
- Graphic arts: National Graphic Collection
- Design: The New Collection
- Architecture: Museum of Architecture of the Technical University of Munich
Distance from hotel: 1,4 km
RESIDENCE AND TREASURE CHAMBER
The Munich residence was build and rebuilt over a period of five centuries. This is among the greatest of Europe’s palaces, combining elements from the Renaissance, the Baroque and Rococo to the Classicist period in a fascinating complex. The Residence was home of the Wittelsbacher dynasty until 1918.
Distance from hotel: 1,4 km
BRANDHORST MUSEUM
The museum for the Brandhorst Collection was designed by the British-German team of architects Matthias Sauerbruch and Louisa Hutton and is being built in the immediate vicinity of the Pinakothek der Moderne. The focus of the collection is on selected works from the classical modern era as well as on artists who had a major influence on art in the second half of the 20th century. Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys, Mario Merz, Sigmar Polke, Georg Baselitz, Gerhard Richter and Mike Kelley are just some of the exhibited artists, who were or are trailblazers for modern art.
Brandhorst Museum
Barer Straße 29, 80799 München
opening hours:: Tue – Sun 10 – 18 hrs, Thu 10 – 20 hrs
www.museum-brandhorst.de
Distance from hotel: 1,6 km
GERMAN MUSEUM
Sailing ships, models of atoms, windmills, space crafts, diesel locomotives, industrial robots, organs, lifeboats – the list is endless: an unbelievable abundance of technical achievement can be found in the German Museum.
It is not only one of the first scientific-technological museums in the world, but also one of the most frequently visited and, with an area of 50.000 square meters, the biggest of all.
Distance from hotel: 2,0 km
MAXIMILIANEUM / BAVARIAN PARLIAMENT
In his 1839 list of projects to be undertaken after his accession to the throne (1848), Crown Prince Maximilian also included the enlargement of the city to the east through the construction of a new road. This project took on more concrete shape when the architect Friedrich Bürklein submitted plans to King Max II in 1851 “for the embellishment of Munich”, in which the link between the old town and Haidhausen was defined as a road leading to a “forum”, bridges and an “acropolis”. In 1853, work began on building the new 1200 metre road, which from 1858 on was officially named “Maximilianstrasse”. In 1858, the director of public works, Arnold Zenetti, built bridges across the River Isar and Prater Island. In order to give Munich’s splendid new road a uniform appearance, Max II commissioned architects to design facades for its buildings. They were thereby required to conform to a new style specified by the king, the so-called “Maximilian style”. Based on Anglo-Saxon neo-Gothic architecture, the aim was to combine the best from all historical epochs with modern construction techniques.
The Maximilianeum building was planned at the same time as the Maximilianstrasse. In 1850, the king decided to hold an international architectural competition “for an institution of higher learning and teaching”. In 1854, the first prize was awarded to Wilhelm Stier, director of public works in Berlin, but the king rejected the design, and not only on account of the cost. Instead, without further ado, he entrusted the project to Friedrich Bürklein (1813-1872), who had already proved through his plan for the embellishment of the city how well he could respond to the king’s own ideas.
Max II was able to lay the foundation stone for Bürklein’s building on 5 October 1857. In February 1864, shortly before his sudden death, and in response to growing criticism, the king ordered a change in the plans, despite the fact that the central section of the west building was already above first-floor level. The Gothic arches as originally planned were to be replaced by ones in neo-Renaissance style, and the pilasters by an arrangement of columns. Thus, the planning and building history of the Maximilianeum marks both the beginning and the end of the Maximilian style. The building was finally completed in 1874.
Up to 1918, the Maximilianeum housed not only the Scholarship Foundation and a “historical gallery”, but also the royal “pagerie” (school for the education of pages). Until just before the end of World War II, the Munich Art Exhibition was held in the halls of the gallery, while in the arcades “the highest café in Munich” offered guests a magnificent panoramic view. But then two-thirds of the building was destroyed by bombs. It was therefore a stroke of luck that, in 1949, the Bavarian Landtag chose the Maximilianeum as its seat. This made alterations necessary to what had so far been the rooms of the gallery. The building soon became too small, however, and in 1958/59 and 1964/65, wings were added to the eastern part to house office and conference rooms. An underground car park was built in 1993, and two more wings were added by October 1994.
Since 1998, an access building has connected the car park to the old building. In the course of construction work, the historical foundation stone of the Maximilianeum was rediscovered. Objects found together with the foundation stone, such as gold coins, portraits of the royal couple and a model locomotive, are now on display in the Stone Hall of the Maximilianeum.
The exterior and its artwork
Standing in a dominant position on the eastern bank of the Isar and approached by a sweeping roadway, the extensive building rises like a gloriette. Resting on a high base, the front with its flat roof consists of a slightly concave central section and two straight side wings. The two rows of round arches are bounded by a three-storey open tower at each end. The figures and artwork on the west facade can be seen from a considerable distance, and proclaim the purpose of the original building as an “institution of higher learning and teaching”.
For example, the mosaics on the centre projection depict the endowment of Ettal Monastery by Emperor Ludwig IV, demonstrating the piety and charity of the ruling Bavarian dynasty. This scene is flanked by the inauguration of the University of Ingolstadt and the triumph of the poet Wolfram von Eschenbach at the contest of the Minnesingers at the Wartburg as a symbol for science and art, which had flourished in Bavaria since time immemorial. The mosaics on the northern projection depict the signing of the Treaty of Pavia as an example of the Wittelsbach king’s statesmanship. The scientific instruments shown on both sides refer to the cycle of frescoes shown in the hall beneath. The counterpart on the southern projection represents the liberation of Vienna from the Turks as an outstanding demonstration of the art of war, while the war trophies on both sides again pick up the theme of the room inside. The 22 busts above the lower row of arcades are portraits of “benefactors, inventors, sages, men of letters, statesmen and military commanders” (at the north: from Homer to St. Francis of Assisi; at the south: from Gustavus II Adolphus to Pythagoras).
The interior and its furnishings
On entering the Maximilianeum through the main portal to the west, visitors first find themselves in a vestibule. Looking up the staircase, a monumental Late Gothic crucifix from Chieming can be seen in the gallery. Halfway up, the staircase divides into two flights, leading to the open arcades of the Stone Hall. Besides portraits of the young King Max II by Julius Zimmermann and the first Bavarian king, Max 1 Josef, by Moritz Kellerhoven, two huge paintings on canvas hang on the walls: to the south, “The Coronation of the Emperor Charlemagne” by Friedrich Kaulbach (1861), and to the north, “The Coronation of Ludwig the Bavarian” by August von Kreling (1859). They are the remnants of altogether 30 works commissioned by King Maximilian II, depicting landmark events in world history (from the Fall of Man, through to the Battle of Nations at Leipzig).
The south-eastern of the four portals leads to the Plenary Chamber of the Bavarian Landtag, with the benches for the deputies arranged in a semi-circle. On the front wall hangs a magnificent tapestry designed by Hermann Kaspar, showing the Great Bavarian State Coat of Arms and the coats of arms of the Bavarian cities which are seats of regional government. On the opposite wall, the naval battle of Salamis rages in an oil painting by Wilhelm von Kaulbach. The north-eastern portal provides access to the so-called “Senate Chamber”. This room was used by the Bavarian Senate (the “second chamber” of the Bavarian parliament) until this was abolished by referendum on 1 January 2000. The north-western portal of the Stone Hall opens into the northern covered walk, or “Presidents’ Corridor”, which takes its name from the portraits of former presidents of the Landtag which hang there. The corridor ends at what is now the Conference Room, which is used for ceremonial receptions and meetings of the Council of Elders. The east wall of the central area is covered by a fresco by Engelbert Seibertz, which shows the Maximilianeum in its neo-Gothic form as originally planned, prior to the changes of 1864. It depicts the imaginary introduction of Alexander von Humboldt into a circle of illustrious Bavarian artists and scientists. The other walls of the Conference Room are decorated with full-figure portraits by Georg Hiltensperger of six “benefactors” and six “inventors”.
These paintings were intended to supplement a cycle of busts, which once extended along the whole length of the northern and southern covered walks, as in a hall of fame. Today, a historical painting by Philipp Foltz, “The Humiliation of Frederick Barbarossa by Henry the Lion”, now hangs here instead. The adjoining room, which serves as a reading room for the members of the Landtag, is the counterpart to the Conference Room. The frescoes on the eastern wall, which showed an assembly of leading statesmen at the time of the Congress of Vienna, have been lost. In their place hangs Karl Theodor von Piloty’s oil sketch for his painting of the contest of Minnesingers at the Wartburg. The full-figure portraits by Friedrich Pecht on the other walls represent six military leaders and six statesmen of Europe.
Distance from hotel: 2,6 km
ENGLISH GARDEN
With a size of 373 hectares, the English Garden is one of the biggest inner-city parks in the world. Depending on the season, the park offers numerous possibilities for recreation. In summer, the extensive cycle and walking trails invite you to explore the area, there are numerous sports grounds and several idyllic beer gardens. Definitely worth a visit are the beer gardens at the Chinesischer Turm, Seehaus, Hirschau und Aumeister, the Monopterus with a wonderful view of the towers of Munich, as well as the Japanese teahouse, where tea ceremonies are regularly celebrated.
Distance from hotel: 3,0 km
OLYMPIC PARK
Site of the 1972 Olympics, this landscaped park contains sport facilities, lakes, bicycle paths, concert venues, restaurants and a football stadium, as well as its landmark “tent-style” roofs. Don´t miss the fascinating BMW Museum across the street, right next to the companies headquaters – which was constructed in the shape of a four-cylinder engine.
Access: via underground, station “Olympiazentrum” Olympiapark München
Distance from hotel: 4,2 km
NYMPHENBURG CASTLE
This large Baroque castle west of Munich was built as a summer residence for the Bavarian sovereigns. The castle, with its artful interior and the marvellous “Gallery of Beauties” painted for Ludwig I, is one of the most famous tourist features in Munich.
The park, with its ancient trees, numerous waterways and small, hidden castles invites the visitor to go on a discovery tour.
More information at:
schloesser.bayern.de/deutsch/schloss/objekte/ny_schl.htm
Distance from hotel: 4,9 km
BAVARIA FILM STUDIOS
Here you can visit the original film locations of famous blockbusters. Sceneries and settings are presented to the visitor in a 90-minute tour. Stunt shows and 4D adventure cinema are the highlights and favourites of the public at the Bavaria Film Studios.
More information at: www.filmstadt.de
Distance from hotel: 8,0 km
You will find us here in the heart of Munich!
Hotel marc münchen
Senefelderstr. 12
80336 Munich
E-Mail: info@hotel-marc.de
MARC MÜNCHEN
MÜNCHEN TIPPS
ADRESSE
marc münchen
Senefelderstr. 12
80336 Munich
E-Mail: info@hotel-marc.de