It is astounding how much Munich punches above its weight when it comes to the arts. The city’s top four royal collections – the Residenz, the three Pinakotheks, and the Glyptothek – easily rank among the prized in Europe, and if you ask me, in its top six. The aggregate stock of Munich’s top four repositories sits right below those of Paris, Rome, Vienna, and St. Petersburg, and on par with London, and – dare I say – Florence. In caliber, not simply quantity. Equally impressive is the Bavarian capital’s long tail of lesser, thematic establishments: among its claimed total of 60 collections and repositories on display in the city – the majority of them more easily live up to a ‘museum’ standard than in most other cities – are several of what I would call ‘learning museums’ of world class order.
This city is the OG of Art Museums. Indeed, Munich was among the first to open its impressive curated collections to the public. Collecting – compulsive and conspicuous, of painting, sculpture, books – became trendy among Central European and Italian princes during the Renaissance times. The Habsburg collections of applied art objects and curiosities started by Ferdinand I in Vienna and by Rudolph II in 16th century Prague and since moved to Vienna, are the most important of all. Joining the ranks of Europe’s more significant ones are the Kunstkammer – Chamber of Art – collections of the Saxon Electors in Dresden and of those of Bavaria and Palatinate in Munich. The path from an esoteric princely hobby to a mainstream public museum took centuries, but – here too the city of Ludwig I was decades ahead of its cultural superiors – Munich‘s major museums, purpose-built around these core collections, opened their doors in the early 1800’s, only a couple of decades behind the first non-university museums in other European capitals. The Bavarian capital became one of the early epicenters of 19th century European visual art, in production, not just in the accumulation of the works of art. When half a century later Kandinsky chose this city as his residence over Paris and Vienna, it was certainly for a reason.
Characteristically, the government of the Free State of Bavaria even has a Palace Department of its own. Or more officially, Department of Castles, Gardens and Lakes. Or more officially still, Bayerische Verwaltung der Staatlichen Schlosser, Garten und Seen, a solemn and dignified cabinet level agency, based in Munich and operating through a staff of not quite 1,000 but close and nearly two dozen offices, created and maintained with the sole purpose of continuing the tradition of electoral then royal patronage. Methodically, and with German precision and meticulous attention to detail, the Bavarian Palace Department oversees – conservation, restoration, large capital projects, curation, educational outreach, promotions, and event scheduling – all aspects of the province’s installed base of 45 castles and palaces, 32 gardens, and 21 lakes along its Southern border. Many of these royal sites are naturally mixed and colocated, with a truly impressive inventory totaling 100,000 art objects. Importantly, the Palace Department itself dates back at least to the 18th century, created – some of the Department’s branches had their forerunners as early as the 17th – to run the residences and palaces of the Wittelsbachers, with protected legacy status from the very early 1800’s. It was then answerable to Ludwig I’s Finance Ministry, a nod to the capital intensity of such royal air cover to the newly formed public collections.
Residenz is nothing short of a kid sibling of Vienna’s Hofburg. With just 130 rooms against Hofburg’s 2,600 it nevertheless displays them with equal dignity and care. Distinct sections of its outer facades date back to the late 1300’s, the early 1600’s, the mid 1700’s, and the mid 1800’s. Today, Germany’s largest palatial complex, destroyed during WWII but rebuilt so masterfully one would never know it, claims to be unrivaled in size and artistic significance among secular Renaissance spaces N of the Alps. The Italianate Antiquarium, half sculpture gallery, half banquet hall, and the best known and oldest existing space inside the Residenz – a contemporary of top Palladian works in N Italy, only on a larger scale, it started Albrecht V’s expansion of his ducal residence in mid 1500’s – makes a similar claim all on its own. To say that this grand residence of Albrecht V, Wilhelm V, and Maximilian I should be on the list of things worth exploring in Munich – to see the unrivaled workmanship of Augsburg’s goldsmiths, the dizzying detailing, and the impressive scale of the elector’s palace, expanded and enriched by successive generations first of dukes and electors then kings – would be a severely inadequate understatement.
The seat of the court of the Wittelsbacher dynasty for 500 years, the Residenz is one of Europe’s finest royal residences and a must when in Munich. Even if you are somehow unimpressed by the frescoed lunettes of the iconic Antiquarium or the crown jewels of the Schatzkammer, the dynastic Treasury boasting some 1250 items, accessible with a separate ticket. Even if all you can spare is just enough time to gallop through endless enfilades of period rooms that envelop its 10 interior courtyards, some – like the Konigsbauhof and Grottenhof – vaguely reminiscent of those in the Vatican Museums, others – check out the Brunnenhof and the Kaiserhof – of the inner courtyards of Vienna’s Hofburg. It is worth seeing even if only half paying attention to the exquisite interiors of the electoral rooms, the event rooms, the bronze halls that surround you on your way through this enormous place. At one point or another, when getting from the diminutive, gabled Altstadt to the thoroughly Neoclassical upper Odeonsplatz – and lower Ludwigstrasse, the Hofgarten, the Finanzgarten, and the vast Eglischen Garten – where Munich-the-royal-capital was born, you are bound to undertake a walk along Residenzstrasse. Then do it properly, at least once, with a detour through the entrance to the Konigsbau section of the vast royal residence facing the Max-Joseph-Platz and into the Alte Residenz sections of the sprawling royal complex behind: it should make the inevitable walk that much more meaningful.
The visual richness of Residenz is exceptional. Well beyond the one of a kind trompe l’oeil facades facing its Emperor’s courtyard and Residenzstrasse. Take the polychrome marble of the early 17th century Imperial Hall and the Stone Rooms, of the Rich Chapel – with its stunning inlays and silver reliefs, ‘opulent’ would be so much more suitable – and of the so-called ‘Rich Rooms’ (as if the rest of this place isn’t?) The jaw-dropping paneling of the ceilings of the Golden Hall, the Imperial Staircase, and in the State Rooms or the Treves Rooms. The 18th century splendor of the Ancestral Gallery and Porcelain Cabinet, of the Elector Rooms redone, or of the Cuvillies Theater, saturated to the extreme and soaked in motif, in gold and bronze. The geometric rigor of the Apartments of the King and Queen from the early 1800’s, in vivid color and gilded Neoclassical detail. And, if somehow unconvinced, there is certainly more – the Bronze Halls, the Court Chapel, the Court Church of All Saints, and vaulted corridors throughout.
The Antiquarium gallery will be the real highlight: this 220 ft long stretch of premium, fresco covered real estate of barrel vaulting, arch soffits, and lunettes featuring 100 views of Bavarian towns – it is illuminated by daylight from 17 bays of massive arched windows spaced along its both sides – displays 200 classical sculptures arranged at different elevations in the arch piers and between them. You are most likely to fall into a familiar pattern – start by standing at the entrance to this broad vaulted hall, jaw on the sunken floor, before galloping through the rooms – and you are not alone, most underestimate the expanse and depth of the Residenz. Collect your jaw and take your time here: Europe has many royal palaces with appropriately stunning interiors but the Antiquarium is singular and unique.
Alte Pinakothek – tough to find a more classical art museum anywhere – ranks among the world’s greatest (starting from the Vatican, Louvre, Hermitage, KHM n Vienna, this one is right behind them, and a possible tie with Uffizi). It contains singular pieces that are not easy to find at the best museums elsewhere, courtesy of Maximilian I and other Wittelsbach rulers. The pioneering layout of the palatial museum, underwritten by Ludwig I as one of his first most important projects and designed by Leo von Klenze, has influenced gallery architecture as a building genre throughout the Old and New World for at least another century. The viewing experience is currently compromised by an ongoing renovation, which has made a good part of the main galleries, including most of the rare Old German masters – Durer, Muelich, Wertinger, and also Lochner, Pacher, Grunewald – temporarily inaccessible. Try to look beyond the temporary disruption – after all, the near ubiquitous Rubens and Old Dutch galleries and the Early Italian masters are open – and imagine the totality of Alte Pinakothek‘s princely collections, started by duke Wilhelm IV in the early and mid-1500’s and expanded by his son, Albrecht V, the author of the superb Kustkammer, the Schatzkammer, and the Antiquarium at the Munich’s Residenz.
Neue Pinakothek – an extension of Ludwig I’s royal patronage specifically to contemporary works of art – is mostly post 18th century, from the romantic, historicist works of German Nazarene painters of the Vienna and Rome schools to the British school to Post-Impressionism and Austrian Expressionism. Broader than Rome’s palazzo Barberini in scope and closer to d’Orsay in Paris, the Neue Pinakothek remains Germany’s top two museum of art from the 1800’s. Chances are you have seen much of this top notch inventory elsewhere. f so, use the Neue Pinakothek as a balancing factor, a pressure relief valve of your cultural program – as a flex item on your schedule as your day’s agenda gets filled or is freed up – when the saturation of the arts inevitably starts to make it all blur. You can take it or leave it based on real-time changes in your bandwidth and levels of energy and hunger.
Glyptothek – truly one of the world’s finest sculpture galleries and Germany’s oldest purpose built exhibition space, like the Alte Pinakothek for classical paintings and Neue Pinakothek for 19th century works – was established by Ludwig I in 1830 and built by Leo von Klenze, his court architect. It lends itself best to slow and attentive contemplation, an experience akin to studying a black and white photograph, where the viewer is guided solely by the slightly changing balance of spotlight and shade. In fact, black and white architectural photography is displayed in some rooms behind the statues, as an accent on the light and shadow theme, and for added visual effect. This vast collection features antique sculptures in white marble and sandstone from different schools and periods – some perfectly intact and positioned solo, in architectonic compositions, others displayed, much like in the Ephesos Museum in Vienna’s Hofburg, in their fragmentary state as part of larger, curated group exhibits – arranged to shine in the natural light along the central axis of the Glyptothek’s oversized halls and near the tall arched windows. The unalloyed focus on the works of sculpture is ensured here by a complete absence of any potentially distracting décor in the museum’s interiors. Smooth, bare, grey brick cladding, devoid of any painted or sculpted patterns completely fills every wall surface, the floors, and the paneled soffits of the vaulted ceilings – the original frescoed walls and gilded ceilings, impressive but over-decorated, were damaged irreparably and permanently during WWII – offering a monochromatic but holistic, photogenic, and visually complete experience, accented only by light and shadow. This one I most highly recommend.
Kunstareal, the museum quarter located in the Maxvorstadt neighborhood N of the old center, stretches W of the Residentz between the University along Ludwigstrasse and the Technical University on Arcisstrasse, and from the Botanical Gardens towards Leopoldpark and Englischen Garten, an area nearly as big as the Altstadt. This campus houses the giants of Munich’s art scene, the three Pinakotheks and the Glyptothek, among many other newer museums, as well as teaching and research institutions specializing in the arts. Kunstareal is not the only museum area in Munich by any means but is nevertheless extremely well-endowed with state collections of art and artifacts that span all imaginable periods and genres, from theater to archives to fine arts to architecture, some employing digital media and sophisticated lighting. Most collections rank among the country’s top three, along with those of Berlin and Dresden. The district is frankly a bit overwhelming – arts and culture overload – and not to be tamed in one shot.
For the modernist, modern, and graphic art, try Pinakothek der Moderne (the Architecture Museum of the Technical University located on premise and praised for its temporary exhibitions, has a great bookstore in the building’s atrium). Or the gallery in Lenbachhaus‘s Italian Renaissance villa that served as the Grunderzeit era residence of Franz von Lenbach. Or the Brandhorst museum, a new museum of modern art a block further up. This area near then prestigious Konigsplatz is where some of the top artists of late 19th century – many enjoyed near uniform commercial success, considerable personal fortunes, and the status of painter princes in Munich – chose to build their homes. If you are interested in niche offering and have extra time, check out the Staatliche Antikensammlungen (State Collection of Antiques), the Museum fur Abgusse Klassischer Bildwerke (Museum for Casts of Classical Sculptures) located on the same block with the National Graphic Arts Collection and the Central Institute of Arts History, as well as the Egyptian museum.
Keep an eye out for temporary exhibits hosted in places like Munich’s palatial Bayerische Staatsbibliothek on Ludwigstrasse between the University and the royal complex, Stuck Villa on Prinzregentstrasse, and Munchner Kunstlerhaus, a massive building in the Renaissance Revival style on Lenbachplatz, established as the city’s artistic community center it doubles as a busy exhibition venue.
Akademie der Bildenden Kunste (Academy of Fine Arts) is a separate destination in its own right. This noble edifice of the 1880’s vintage – it manages to display two tiers of over 40 arch windows along its main façade, and that is not counting the wings – appropriately flanks Siegestor, a proper triumphal arch, a crowning achievement of Ludwig’s that crowns the Ludwigstrasse perspective at its far, Northern, end. This massive plot of real estate, a block away from the monumental Ludwig-Maximilian University complex, is where the youthful Maxvorstadt ends and Schwabing, the the traditionally bohemian and cosmopolitan district that attracted Lenin (the name adopted while in Munich), Trotsky, begins. The Academy has been a highly respectable and privileged learning institution since the late 1700’s with temporary student exhibits, and worth a visit. To get some inspiration – from simply walking the halls and stairs, and staring at the work in progress inventory before it is turned into finished artistic goods.
Kunstlerhaus, Haus der Kunst, and Kunsthalle – good luck keeping them separate or knowing which one is where – are outside the museum district, but you will stumble on world class museums and exhibition venues elsewhere in Munich. They try to engage, stay relevant to the locals – no, not to the tourist – with a busy program of exhibits, concerts, lectures, private events, a decent brasserie, and a DJ. There are more of these establishments elsewhere: South of Peterskirche and Viktualienmarkt is a part of Altstadt with several smaller museums of special interest – the Jewish Museum, the Filmmuseum, the Munchner Stadtmuseum hosting permanent and temporary city history exhibits – if nothing else, the proximity to Eataly should help secure them on your itinerary.
Immediately outside the Ring across town from the Residenz are three noteworthy institutions: the Haus der Kunst, the Bavarian National Museum, and the Museum Funf Kontinente. The Bavarian National Museum is one of Munich’s most impressive, spanning a millennium of gold and silver metalworking, medieval armor, and plastic arts by top masters from all over Europe. And certainly Haus der Kunst, its controversial ideological and partisan history notwithstanding. Don’t overlook this inspiring venue – overscheduled with activities, events and exhibits, buzzing with everyday creative energy, and a favorite with Munich’s real art lovers and art students – it is organic, perfectly in touch, and well-integrated into the city’s everyday life, much like the numerous institutions of Vienna’s MuseumsQuartier and its contingent of artists in residence. Come for a look, unrehearsed and unforced, into a cross section of running exhibitions, and to browse in one of Munich’s numerous museum bookstore that will make you want to buy every title, make you wish you learned German instead of whatever you ended up learning, back in the day.
But Munich really excels in things modern, and the Nazi Documents Museum tops the charts. When tired of things classical – and even if you are not – carve out a morning to walk through and reflect this modern, unassuming, four story structure in the heart of Konigsplatz – Munich‘s Nazi era power center, fascist-looking but visually palatable part of the Kunstareal museum zone, actually designed like a century before Hitler, by Ludwig and Maximilian. NS-Dokumentationszentrum is more engaging than it sounds, and is lined from top to bottom – this is the order of the exhibition flow starting from the 4th level to the ground floor – a superb permanent exhibit of great authenticity, designed, curated, and thought through to the finest detail of display and content. Consider it a museum of history – its particularly dark and painful part – of the city of Munich, filled with hand-picked and masterfully presented data, quotations by Thomas Mann, photos, films, prints, posters, objects. This permanent collection will read, register, and stay with you as one continuous story rather than discrete rooms and artifacts. This museum experience – by design and in the name of authenticity, planted in the epicenter of this barbaric movement, next to Hitler’s Party HQ building, occupied today by a music school around the corner – manages to find ways to add, meaningfully, to one of the most difficult and crowded topics, crafting its own story of Munich and its citizens, and doing it in ways far from trivial. It will appeal to your heart and mind, it will try to answer old questions, it will raise new ones, it will make you think, reflect, and google, searching for ways to reconcile with previously acquired data points, and it may even send you physically back to an already visited corner of the room to reaffirm and double check. It is bound to affect your day, and how you think about this city, it will plant the seeds of doubt in your faith in humanity, and it will make you question the intense but superficial beauty seen throughout the city thus far. Keep this in mind when planning your activities: not leading with this one and saving it for last may not be a bad idea.
I am skipping Deutsches Museum and BMW Museum here, but for those who are into science and engineering, the former is Germany’s Smithsonian, and worth a short detour. That said, I would still recommend saving your time and patience for one of the more user friendly technology museums, like the Science and Industry in Chicago, or for the more presentable of them, like the Arts et Metiers in Paris.
Broader Bavaria is absolutely beautiful and brimming with history, arts, wealth, and natural beauty. Augsburg is just 25 min by train from the Munich airport. It is beautiful, more historically important than it sounds – one of the great centers of 15th century European banking, 16th century Renaissance silver-working and craftsmanship, and 18th century Rococo architecture – and at least twice the size of Innsbruck, you can easily include it for a few hours. But don’t forget the wealth of Nuremberg, Regensburg, Wurzburg, Bamberg. Or the Nymphenburg-Linderhof-Schleissheim-Herrenchiemsee circuit of royal residences around Munich. Clearly, too much to see, way too little time, and for another blog post.
