Munich lies on the Isar on one of the great gravel plains of the Alpine foothills. The capital of Bavaria is the third largest city in Germany and is known as the “secret cultural capital”. Numerous industrial and service companies, also in the promising media sector, offer interesting jobs and attract numerous immigrants from all over Germany. In addition, there is an attractive cityscape and an abundance of educational, research and cultural facilities. The painting collections of the Alte and Neue Pinakothek, soon also the Pinakothek der Moderne, have a worldwide reputation. Not only the annual Oktoberfest attracts visitors from all over the world to Munich.
Munich, the state capital of Bavaria, is an independent city and the administrative seat of the district of Munich and the administrative district of Upper Bavaria. With 1.195 million residents, it is the third largest city in Germany. Munich is located at the exit of the Isar from its narrow valley into the Erdinger Moos on a mighty gravel plain, a relic of the Ice Ages.
The city is the seat of the state government, the state parliament and the seat of the Archbishop of Munich and Freising. The Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich was founded in Ingolstadt in 1472, moved to Landshut in 1800 and to Munich in 1826. Munich has other universities, including the Technical University, the University of the Federal Armed Forces, the University of Philosophy and Politics and several art schools. Munich is the seat of the Max Planck Society with Max Planck Institutes for foreign and international patent, copyright and competition law, for physics, for psychiatry, for foreign and international social law and for psychological research and the Goethe Institute and the Germans Academy for urban development and regional planning. Federal authorities and institutions are also located in Munich,
Important cultural institutions and crowd pullers are the numerous museums, especially the Bavarian State Painting Collections in the Alte and Neue Pinakothek, the Bavarian National Museum, the German Museum, the Prehistoric State Collection, the Municipal Gallery in Lenbachhaus, the Haus der Kunst, the Glyptothek and the Antikensammlung as well as the Bavarian State Library and the German Book Archive in Munich. The Bavarian State Opera, the Bavarian State Theater and the Prinzregententheater are world-famous. The botanical garden and the Hellabrunn zoo are very popular.
The “secret capital of Germany”
According to loverists, this is what Munich is or was often called. Munich is an important economic center with mainly growth-oriented branches of industry such as electronics, electrical engineering, mechanical and vehicle construction, precision engineering and optical industries. In addition, there is the food and beverage industry with a number of large breweries. Above all, the city is an important media center with numerous publishing houses, several public and private radio and television companies and film studios. Munich is a popular meeting place for artists, journalists and in general for people who are in the public interest. The highlights of the events taking place in Munich are the Opera Festival, the Palace Concerts and the Munich Film Festival.
A well-known artist and entertainment district developed in the Schwabing district, which also attracts many tourists. The Oktoberfest, which takes place every year for 16 days on the Theresienwiese, naturally attracts even more visitors. The Oktoberfest, which ends on the first Sunday in October, is the largest folk festival in the world. The Hofbräuhaus, the many beer gardens and the Viktualienmarkt are also popular.
Munich has a stock exchange and is an important trading and banking center and center of the German insurance industry. Numerous congresses and fairs take place in the city. Munich is an important transport hub. The new international major airport (Munich II) is located in Erdinger Moos.
The beautiful cityscape, the delightful surroundings, the attractive workplaces and the special flair it is said to have made Munich one of the most desirable German cities as a place to live and work. This is also supported by the extremely high rents and the rapidly growing suburbs.
Cityscape
The old town center within the wall ring, built around 1175 with Kaufingerstraße and the Old Town Hall, the neo-Gothic New Town Hall on Marienplatz, the parish church of St. Peter and the late Gothic Frauenkirche with its characteristic domed towers has become the city center. The old town, surrounded by the second wall ring around 1300, in which the old ducal castle was located, also developed into a business town. The first major construction project in the 16th century was the expansion of the residence, which was expanded in 1826–1842 by the master builder LEO VON KLENZE, who largely shaped the townscape. Then numerous baroque church buildings and aristocratic palaces were built, including the Archbishop’s Palace.
The razing of the fortifications in 1792 created space for new, significant building activity. The English Garden was already on the Isar in 1789 ,one of the earliest and largest landscape gardens in Germany, followed by the boulevards in the north and east. The Glyptothek, the State Collection of Antiquities and the Propylaea were built on Königsplatz in the 19th century, with the Alte Pinakothek and the Neue Pinakothek to the north (new buildings 1973–1981). Ludwigstrasse was laid out by KLENZE and FRIEDRICH VON GÄRTNER with the State Library, Ludwigskirche and University from 1817. The northern end is the Siegestor, the southern the Feldherrnhalle. Maximilianstrasse was built between 1853 and 1875 and leads from Max-Joseph-Platz, which is delimited by the southern facade of the residence, to the Maximilianeum. The Bavarian National Museum and the Prinzregententheater (1900/01) are located on Prinzregentenstrasse, while the Bavarian State Chancellery is on the Hofgarten .
Numerous communities have been incorporated since 1854, including Nymphenburg with its spacious palace complex. Especially in the years 1880-1910 the city expanded. The notable buildings after the Second World War include the reconstruction of Maxburg on Pacellistraße, the facility and sports buildings for the 1972 Summer Olympics by GÜNTER BEHNISCH and FREI OTTO, the BMW administration building and the administration building of the Max Planck Society. In 1996 the foundation stone for the Pinakothek der Moderne was laid.
History
Munich was first mentioned in a document in the 12th century. It received city rights in 1158, when Duke HEINRICH THE LION of Bavaria and Saxony made the Munichen settlement (“near the monks”) an important trading center for salt from Reichenhall. In 1240 the city fell to the Wittelsbach family and was their residence from 1255 to 1918. Since the 16th century the city has been one of the centers of German and European art and science. In November 1918, KURT EISNER proclaimed the republican Free State of Bavaria. After his murder on April 7th, 1919 proclaimed the Soviet Republic in Munich.
The NSDAP emerged from the “German Workers’ Party” founded in Munich in 1919. On November 9, 1923, the Hitler putsch failed in front of the Feldherrnhalle . Half of Munich was destroyed in World War II.
In 1972 the city hosted the Summer Olympics.
