Munich — Germany

Munich is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg.

The most prominent history of the city is of the Adolf Hitler led Nazi Movement; the city became its epi-centre once the Nazis took power in Germany in 1933 AD.
The Nazis created the first concentration camp at Dachau, 30 km north west of the city.
Because of its importance to the rise of Nazism, the Nazis called Munich the “Capital of the Movement“. The NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers Party) headquarters were in Munich and many “Führer-buildings” were built around the Königsplatz, some of which have survived to this day.
One of the examples of Nazi architecture in München is the Haus der Deutschen Kunst, an art museum designed by architect Paul Ludwig Troost.

The city was very heavily damaged by allied bombing during World War II – the city was hit by 71 air raids over a period of six years and more than 50% of the entire city and up to 90% of the historic centre was destroyed.

After American occupation in 1945, Munich was completely rebuilt following a meticulous and – by comparison to other war-ravaged German cities – rather conservative plan which preserved its pre-war street grid.

Currently the city is ranked as one of the most liveable cities in the world contrary to its disturbed past only 75 years ago.

The city is famous for annual beer festival – Oktoberfest, attended by over six million people.
The automobile manufacturer BMW is headquartered in Munich.

Town hall, Marienplatz, is Munich’s main square since 1158 AD

Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall) is a 300-foot-long, elaborately decorated façade with hundreds of statues, turrets and arches that dominate the square. The New Town Hall dates back to the Middle Ages, the building was constructed between 1867 and 1909 in Flanders Gothic style. The New Town Hall is home to the city government and the Munich Tourism Office.
The tower of the Neues Rathaus houses the Rathaus-Glockenspiel. This clock has a show every day at 11 am and noon. Hundreds of people gather in front of the tower to hear the Glockenspiel chime and watch the 32 life-sized figures reenact historical Bavarian events. A golden bird chirps 3 times to mark the end of each show.

The Altes Rathaus (Munich’s Old Town Hall), located on the east side of Marienplatz, is the original city hall building dating back to the 14th century. In 1874, when the building became too small, Munich’s municipality moved into the New Town Hall on the other side of the square. Completely destroyed in World War II, the Old Town Hall has been rebuilt on the original plans in neo-gothic style and now houses Munich’s Spielzeugmuseum (toy museum).

Munich’s huge brick Frauenkirche – the Cathedral Church of Our Lady – was completed in 1488, a Late Gothic church that owes its impact to its great size. Massive twin 100-meter-tall towers, with their characteristic Renaissance domes, tower over a high building 109 meters long by 40 meters wide. Highlights inside the cathedral include the 1622 AD Tomb of the Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian in black marble with bronze figures, a 1620 AD altarpiece of the Assumption by Peter Candid, and the Baroque red marble font in the Baptistery with its early 14th-century Sorrowing Christ.

A popular curiosity is the strange footprint in the floor of the porch, said to have been left by the devil after he came to inspect the church. So delighted was he that the windows seemed to have been forgotten (the row of columns hides them when the church is viewed from the entrance), he stamped his foot, leaving the footprint that can still be seen today. The twin towers of Frauenkirche are a good landmark for orientation, visible from all over the city. You can climb to the top for views across the city to the Bavarian Alps.