Munich (/ˈmjuːnɪk, -nɪx/ MEW-nik(h); German: München [ˈmʏnçn̩] ⓘ; Bavarian: Minga
[ˈmɪŋ(ː)ɐ] ⓘ) is the capital and most populous city of the Free State of Bavaria.
With a population of 1,578,132 inhabitants as of 31 May 2022,[3] it is the third-
largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg, and thus the largest which does
not constitute its own state, as well as the 11th-largest city in the European
Union. The city's metropolitan region is home to about 6.2 million people and the
third biggest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union.[4]
Straddling the banks of the river Isar north of the Alps, Munich is the seat of the
Bavarian administrative region of Upper Bavaria, while being the most densely
populated municipality in Germany with 4,500 people per km2. Munich is the second-
largest city in the Bavarian dialect area, after the Austrian capital of Vienna.
The city was first mentioned in 1158. Catholic Munich strongly resisted the
Reformation and was a political point of divergence during the resulting Thirty
Years' War, but remained physically untouched despite an occupation by the
Protestant Swedes.[5] Once Bavaria was established as the Kingdom of Bavaria in
1806, Munich became a major European centre of arts, architecture, culture and
science. In 1918, during the German Revolution of 1918–19, the ruling House of
Wittelsbach, which had governed Bavaria since 1180, was forced to abdicate in
Munich and a short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic was declared. In the 1920s,
Munich became home to several political factions, among them the Nazi Party. After
the Nazis' rise to power, Munich was declared their "Capital of the Movement". The
city was heavily bombed during World War II, but has restored most of its old town.
After the end of postwar American occupation in 1949, there was a great increase in
population and economic power during the years of Wirtschaftswunder. The city
hosted the 1972 Summer Olympics.
Today, Munich is a global centre of science, technology, finance, innovation,
business, and tourism. Munich enjoys a very high standard and quality of living,
reaching first in Germany and third worldwide according to the 2018 Mercer survey,
[6] and being rated the world's most liveable city by the Monocle's Quality of Life
Survey 2018.[7] Munich is consistently ranked as one of the most expensive cities
in Germany in terms of real estate prices and rental costs.[8][9]
In 2021, 28.8 percent of Munich's residents were foreigners, and another 17.7
percent were German citizens with a migration background from a foreign country.
[10] Munich's economy is based on high tech, automobiles, and the service sector,
as well as IT, biotechnology, engineering, and electronics. It has one of the
strongest economies of any German city and the lowest unemployment rate of all
cities in Germany with more than one million inhabitants. The city houses many
multinational companies, such as BMW, Siemens, Allianz SE and Munich Re. In
addition, Munich is home to two research universities, and a multitude of
scientific institutions.[11] Munich's numerous architectural and cultural
attractions, sports events, exhibitions and its annual Oktoberfest, the world's
largest Volksfest, attract considerable tourism.[12]
History
Main article: History of Munich
For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Munich.
Coat of arms of Munich
Duration: 2 minutes and 43 seconds.2:43
The unofficial city anthem of Munich, recorded in 1929
Etymology
Munich was a tiny 8th-century friar settlement, which was named zu den Munichen
("to the monks"). The Old High German Muniche served as basis for the modern German
city name München.[13]
Prehistory
The river Isar was a prehistoric trade route and in the Bronze Age Munich was among
the largest raft ports in Europe.[14] Bronze Age settlements up to four millennia
old have been discovered.[15] Evidence of Celt settlements from the Iron Age have
been discovered in areas around Ramersdorf-Perlach.[16]
Roman period
The ancient Roman road Via Julia, which connected Augsburg and Salzburg, crossed
over the Isar south of Munich, at the towns of Baierbrunn and Gauting.[17] A Roman
settlement north-east of Munich was excavated in the neighborhood of Denning.[18]
Post-Roman settlements
Starting in the 6th century, the Baiuvarii populated the area around what is now
modern Munich, such as in Johanneskirchen, Feldmoching, Bogenhausen and Pasing.[19]
[20] The first known Christian church was built ca. 815 in Fröttmanning.[21]
Origin of medieval town
Munich in the 16th century
Plan of Munich in 1642
The first medieval bridges across the river Isar were located in current city areas
of Munich and Landshut.[14] The Duke of Saxony and Bavaria Henry the Lion founded
the town of Munich in his territory to control the salt trade, after having burned
down the town of Föhring and its bridges over the Isar.[22] Historians date this
event at about 1158.[23] The layout of Munich city, with five city gates and market
place, resembled that of Höxter.[24]
Henry built a new toll bridge, customs house and a coin market closer to his home
somewhat upstream at a settlement around the area of modern old town Munich. This
new toll bridge most likely crossed the Isar where the Museuminsel and the modern
Ludwigsbrücke is now located.[25]
Otto of Freising protested to his nephew, Emperor Frederick Barbarosa (d. 1190).
However, on 14 June 1158, in Augsburg, the conflict was settled in favor of Duke
Henry. The Augsburg Arbitration mentions the name of the location in dispute as
forum apud Munichen. Although Bishop Otto had lost his bridge, the arbiters ordered
Duke Henry to pay a third of his income to the Bishop in Freising as compensation.
[26][27][28]
The 14. June 1158 is considered the official founding day of the city of Munich.
Archaeological excavations at Marienhof Square (near Marienplatz) in advance of the
expansion of the S-Bahn (subway) in 2012 discovered shards of vessels from the 11th
century, which prove again that the settlement of Munich must be older than the
Augsburg Arbitration of 1158.[29][30] The old St. Peter's Church near Marienplatz
is also believed to predate the founding date of the town.[31]
In 1175, Munich received city status and fortification. In 1180, after Henry the
Lion's fall from grace with Emperor Frederick Barbarosa, including his trial and
exile, Otto I Wittelsbach became Duke of Bavaria, and Munich was handed to the
Bishop of Freising. In 1240, Munich was transferred to Otto II Wittelsbach and in
1255, when the Duchy of Bavaria was split in two, Munich became the ducal residence
of Upper Bavaria.
Duke Louis IV, a native of Munich, was elected German king in 1314 and crowned as
Holy Roman Emperor in 1328. He strengthened the city's position by granting it the
salt monopoly, thus assuring it of additional income.
On 13 February 1327, a large fire broke out in Munich that lasted two days and
destroyed about a third of the town.[32]
In 1349, the Black Death ravaged Munich and Bavaria.[33]
In the 15th century, Munich underwent a revival of Gothic arts: the Old Town Hall
was enlarged, and Munich's largest Gothic church – the Frauenkirche – now a
cathedral, was constructed in only 20 years, starting in 1468.
Capital of reunited Bavaria
The Renaissance Antiquarium of the Residenz
When Bavaria was reunited in 1506 after a brief war against the Duchy of Landshut,
Munich became its capital. The arts and politics became increasingly influenced by
the court.[citation needed] The Renaissance movement beset Munich and the Bavarian
branch of the House of Wittelsbach under the Duke of Bavaria Albrecht V bolstered
their prestige by conjuring up a lineage that reached back to Classical antiquity.
In 1568 Albrecht V built the Antiquarium to house the Wittelsbach collection of
Greek and Roman antiquities in the Munich Residenz.[34] Albrecht V appointed the
composer Orlando di Lasso as director of the court orchestra and tempted numerous
Italian musicians to work at the Munich court, establishing Munich as a hub for
late Renaissance music.[35] During the rule of Duke William V Munich began to be
called the "German Rome" and William V began presenting Emperor Charlemagne as
ancestor of the Wittelsbach dynasty.[36]
Duke William V further cemented the Wittelsbach rule by commissioning the Jesuit
Michaelskirche. He had the sermons of his Jesuit court preacher Jeremias Drexel
translated from Latin into German and published them to a greater audience.[37]
William V was addressed with the epithet "the Pious" and like his contemporary
Wittelsbach dukes promoted himself as "father of the land" (Landesvater),
encouraged pilgrimages and Marian devotions.[38] William V had the Hofbräuhaus
built in 1589. It would become the prototype for beer halls across Munich. After
World War II the Residenze, the Hofbräuhaus, the Frauenkirche, and the Peterskirche
were reconstructed to look exactly as they did before the Nazi Party seized power
in 1933.[39]
Marienplatz, Munich, about 1650
Banners with the colours of Munich (left) and Bavaria (right) with the Frauenkirche
in the background
The Catholic League was founded in Munich in 1609. In 1623, during the Thirty
Years' War (1618–1648), Munich became an electoral residence when Maximilian I,
Duke of Bavaria was invested with the electoral dignity, but in 1632 the city was
occupied by Gustav II Adolph of Sweden.[citation needed]
In 1634 Swedish and Spanish troops advanced on Munich. Maximilian I published a
plague ordinance to halt an epidemic escalation.[40] The bubonic plague
nevertheless ravaged Munich and the surrounding countryside in 1634 and 1635.[41]
During the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) troops again converged on Munich in 1647
and precautions were taken, so as to avoid another epidemic.[42]
Under the regency of the Bavarian electors, Munich was an important centre of
Baroque life, but also had to suffer under Habsburg occupations in 1704 and 1742.
[citation needed] When Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria died in 1745, the
succession empowered the Palatinate branch within the House of Wittelsbach.[43]
In 1777 Bavarian lands were inherited to Charles Theodore. The new Duke was
disliked by the citizens of Munich for his supposedly enlightened ideas. In 1785
Karl Theodor invited Count Rumford Benjamin Thompson to take up residency in Munich
and implement stringent social reforms. The poor were forced to live in newly built
workhouses. The Bavarian army was restructured, with common soldiers receiving
better food and reassurances that they would be treated humanely by officers.[44]
Munich was the largest German city to lose fortification in the 1790s.[45] In 1791
Karl Theodor and Count Rumford started to demolish Munich's fortifications.[46]
After 1793 Munich's citizens, including house servants, carpenters, butchers,
merchants, and court officials, seized the opportunity, building new houses,
stalls, and sheds outside the city walls.[47]
After making an alliance with Napoleonic France, the city became the capital of the
new Kingdom of Bavaria in 1806 with Elector Maximillian Joseph becoming its first
King. The state parliament (the Landtag) and the new archdiocese of Munich and
Freising were also located in the city.[citation needed]
The establishment of Bavarian state sovereignty profoundly affected Munich. Munich
became the center of a modernizing kingdom, and one of the king's first acts was
the secularization of Bavaria. He had dissolved all monasteries in 1802 and once
crowned, Max Joseph I generated state revenues by selling off church lands. While
many monasteries were reestablished, Max Joseph I succeeded in controlling the
right to brew beer (Brauchrecht). The king handed the brewing monopoly to Munich's
wealthiest brewers, who in turn paid substantial taxs on their beer production. In
1807 the king abolished all ordinances that limited the number of apprentices and
journeymen a brewery could employ. Munich's population had swelled and Munich
brewers were now free to employ as many workers as they needed to meet the demand.
[48] In October 1810 a beer festival was held on the meadows just outside Munich to
commemorate the wedding of the crown price and princess Therese of Saxe-
Hildburghausen. The parades in regional dress (Tracht) represented the diversity of
the kingdom. The fields are now part of the Theresienwiese and the celebrations
developed into Munich's annual Oktoberfest.[49]
The Bavarian state proceeded to take control over the beer market, by regulating
all taxes on beer in 1806 and 1811. Brewers and the beer taverns (Wirtshäuser) were
taxed, and the state also controlled the quality of beer while limiting the
competition among breweries.[50] In 1831 the king's government introduced a cost-
of-living allowance on beer for lower-ranking civil servants and soldiers. Soldiers
stationed in Munich were granted a daily allowance for beer in the early 1840s.[51]
By the 1850s beer had become essential staple food for Munich's working and lower
classes. Since the Middle Ages beer had been regarded as nutritious liquid bread
(fließendes Brot) in Bavaria. But Munich suffered from poor water sanitation and as
early as the 1700s beer came to be regarded as the fifth element. Beer was
essential in maintaining public health in Munich and in the mid-1840s Munich police
estimated that at least 40,000 residents relied primarily on beer for their
nutrition.[52]
The Palace of Justice in Baroque Revival style
In 1832 Peter von Hess painted the Greek War of Independence at the order of Ludwig
I of Bavaria. Ludwig I had the Königsplatz built in neoclassicism as a matter of
ideological choice. Leo von Klenze supervised the construction of a Propylaia
between 1854 and 1862.[53]
During the early to mid-19th century, the old fortified city walls of Munich were
largely demolished due to population expansion.[54] The first Munich railway
station was built in 1839, with a line going to Augsburg in the west. By 1849 a
newer Munich Central Train Station (München Hauptbahnhof) was completed, with a
line going to Landshut and Regensburg in the north.[55][56] In 1825 Ludwig I had
ascended to the throne and commissioned leading architects such as Leo von Klenze
to design a series of public museums in neoclassical style. The grand building
projects of Ludwig I got Munich the endearment "Isar-Athen" and "Monaco di
Bavaria".[57] Between 1856 and 1861 the court gardener Carl von Effner landscaped
the banks of river Isar and established the Maximilian Gardens. Since 1848 the
Münchner Neueste Nachrichten were published as a regional newspaper in Munich. In
1857 the construction of the Maximilianeum was started.[58]
By the time Ludwig II became king in 1864, he remained mostly aloof from his
capital and focused more on his fanciful castles in the Bavarian countryside, which
is why he is known the world over as the 'fairytale king'. Ludwig II tried to lure
Richard Wagner to Munich, but his plans for an opera house were declined by the
city council. Ludwig II nevertheless generated a windfall for Munich's craft and
construction industries. In 1876 Munich hosted the first German Art and Industry
Exhibition, which showcased the northern Neo-Renaissance fashion that came to be
the German Empire's predominant style. Munich based artists put on the German
National Applied Arts Exhibition in 1888, showcasing Baroque Revival architecture
and Rococo Revival designs.[59]
Jugendstil style house at Leopoldstr. 77, Münchner Freiheit
In 1900 Wilhelm Röntgen moved to Munich, he was appointed as professor of Physics.
In 1901 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.[60]
The Prince Regent Luitpold's reign from 1886 till 1912 was marked by tremendous
artistic and cultural activity in Munich.[61] At the dawn of the 20th century
Munich was an epicenter for the Jugendstil movement, combining a liberal magazine
culture with progressive industrial design and architecture. The German art
movement took its name from the Munich magazine Die Jugend (The Youth).[62]
Prominent Munich Jugendstil artists include Hans Eduard von Berlepsch-Valendas,
Otto Eckmann,[63] Margarethe von Brauchitsch, August Endell, Hermann Obrist,
Wilhelm von Debschitz,[64] and Richard Riemerschmid. In 1905 two large department
stores opened in Munich, the Kaufhaus Oberpollinger and the Warenhaus Hermann
Tietz, both had been designed by the architect Max Littmann.[65] In 1911 the
expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter was established in Munich. Its founding
members include Gabriele Münter.[66]
World War I to World War II
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, life in Munich became very
difficult, as the Allied blockade of Germany led to food and fuel shortages. During
French air raids in 1916, three bombs fell on Munich.[citation needed]
In 1916, the 'Bayerische Motoren Werke' (BMW) produced its first aircraft engine in
Munich.[67] The stock cooperation BMW AG was founded in 1918, with Camillo
Castiglioni owning one third of the share capital. In 1922 BMW relocated its
headquarters to a factory in Munich.[68]
After World War I, the city was at the centre of substantial political unrest. In
November 1918, on the eve of the German revolution, Ludwig III of Bavaria and his
family fled the city. After the murder of the first republican premier of Bavaria
Kurt Eisner in February 1919 by Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley, the Bavarian Soviet
Republic was proclaimed.[69] The November 1918 revolution ended the reign of the
Wittelsbach in Bavaria.[70] In Mein Kampf Adolf Hitler described his political
activism in Munich after November 1918 as the "Beginning of My Political Activity".
Hitler called the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic "the rule of the Jews".[71]
In 1919 Bavaria Film was founded and in the 1920s Munich offered film makers an
alternative to Germany's largest film studio in Babelsberg.[72]
Unrest during the Beer Hall Putsch
In 1923 Gustav von Kahr was appointed Bavarian prime minister and immediately
planned for the expulsion of all Jews that did not hold German citizenship. Chief
of Police Ernst Pöhner and Wilhelm Frick openly indulged in antisemitism, while
Bavarian judges praised people on the political right as patriotic for their crimes
and handed down mild sentences.[73] In 1923, Adolf Hitler and his supporters, who
were concentrated in Munich, staged the Beer Hall Putsch, an attempt to overthrow
the Weimar Republic and seize power. The revolt failed, resulting in Hitler's
arrest and the temporary crippling of the Nazi Party (NSDAP).[74]
Munich was chosen as capital for the Free State of Bavaria and acquired increased
responsibility for administering the city itself and the surrounding districts.
Offices needed to be built for bureaucracy, so a 12-story office building was
erected in the southern part of the historic city centre in the late 1920s.[70]
Munich again became important to the Nazis when they took power in Germany in 1933.
The party created its first concentration camp at Dachau, 16 km (9.9 mi) north-west
of the city. Because of its importance to the rise of National Socialism, Munich
was referred to as the Hauptstadt der Bewegung ("Capital of the Movement").[75]
The NSDAP headquarters and the documentation apparatus for controlling all aspects
of life were located in Munich. Nazi organizations, such as the National Socialist
Women's League and the Gestapo, had their offices along Brienner Straße and around
the Königsplatz. The party acquired 68 buildings in the area and many Führerbauten
("Führer buildings") were built to reflect a new aesthetic of power.[76]
Construction work for the Führerbau and the party headquarters (known as the Brown
House) started in September 1933.[77] The Haus der Kunst (House of German Art) was
the first building to be commissioned by Hitler. The architect Paul Troost was
asked to start work shortly after the Nazis had seized power because "the most
German of all German cities" was left with no exhibition building when in 1931 the
Glass Palace was destroyed in an arson.[78] The Red Terror that supposedly preceded
Nazi control in Munich, was detailed in Nazi publications, seminal accounts are
that of Rudolf Schricker Rotmord über München published in 1934, and Die
Blutchronik des Marxismus in Deutschland by Adolf Ehrt and Hans Roden.[79]
In 1930 Feinkost Käfer was founded in Munich, the Käfer catering business is now a
world leading party service.[80]
The city was the site where the 1938 Munich Agreement signed between the United
Kingdom and the Third French Republic with Nazi Germany as part of the Franco-
British policy of appeasement. The British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
assented to the German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland in the hopes of
satisfying Hitler's territorial expansion.[81]
The Munich-Riem Airport was completed in October 1939.[82]
On 8 November 1939, shortly after the Second World War had begun, Georg Elser
planted a bomb in the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich in an attempt to assassinate Adolf
Hitler, who held a political party speech. Hitler, however, had left the building
minutes before the bomb went off.[83] By mid 1942 the majority of Jews living in
Munich and the suburbs had been deported.[84]
Liberated survivors of the Munich-Allach concentration camp greet arriving U.S.
troops, 30 April 1945
During the war, Munich was the location of multiple forced labour camps, including
two Polenlager camps for Polish youth,[85][86] and 40 subcamps of the Dachau
concentration camp, in which men and women of various nationalities were held.[87]
With up to 17,000 prisoners in 1945, the largest subcamp of Dachau was the Munich-
Allach concentration camp.
Munich was the base of the White Rose, a student resistance movement. The group had
distributed leaflets in several cities and following the 1943 Battle of Stalingrad
members of the group stenciled slogans such as "Down with Hitler" and "Hitler the
Mass Murderer" on public buildings in Munich. The core members were arrested and
executed after Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans Scholl were caught distributing
leaflets on Munich University campus calling upon the youth to rise against Hitler.
[88]
The city was heavily damaged by the bombing of Munich in World War II, with 71 air
raids over five years. US troops liberated Munich on 30 April 1945.[89]
