Munich travel guide — Munich tourism and travel information

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Munich travel guide

about Munich

Munich (German: München) is the state capital of the German Bundesland of Bavaria. Behind Berlin and Hamburg, Munich is Germany's third largest city with a population of about 1.261 million (as of 2003). It is located on the river Isar.

Munich sights

Munich is a popular tourist destination and has been described as Germany's "second city".

The city has several important art museums, among them the Alte Pinakothek,Neue Pinakothek, and the Pinakothek der Moderne. Before World War I, it was also the site of the Blaue Reiter group of artists.

Other famous tourist attractions include the English Garden (Englischer Garten - a formal garden park roughly in the center of the city that contains a nudist area, beautiful jogging tracks and much more), the Deutsches Museum (Science Museum), and the Rathaus-Glockenspiel, an ornate clock with moving figures atop the town hall. Perhaps Munich's most famous attraction is the Oktoberfest, a 2-week-long fair with many rides and several very large tents. The Oktoberfest was first held October 12, 1810 in honor of the marriage of crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The festivities were closed with a horse race and in the following years the horse races were continued and later developed into what is now known as the Oktoberfest.

Other famous buildings in Munich include the Frauenkirche (Cathedral of Our Lady) and the Olympiaturm ("Olympic Tower"), a radio and TV broadcasting station.

The Olympiaturm (Olympic Tower) was built for the 1972 Summer Olympics which were held in Munich and during which terrorist gunmen from the Palestinian "Black September" group took hostage members of the Israeli olympic team. A rescue attempt by the West German government was unsuccessful and resulted in the deaths of the Israeli hostages, 5 of the terrorists, and one German police officer. Several games of the 1974 Soccer World Cup were also held in the city and in 2006 it will again be host to several games, including the opening match of the next FIFA Soccer World Cup. The 2006 World Cup, however, will not take place in the traditional Olympia Stadium, but in Munich's new soccer stadium.

Around Munich

Lying on the plain of the Voralpenland, the Munich agglomeration sprawls unhindered by geography. Several smaller traditional Bavarian cities are today part of the Munich suburbia and are worth a visit ehrn the main Munich sights are exhausted.

Dachau
Fürstenfeldbruck
Freising
Erding
Starnberg

Sights

Nymphenburg palace
Oberschleissheim Palace

Munich history

The settlement was founded as Munichen in 1158 by Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, and half a century later it was granted city status and fortified. Initially, bishop Otto von Freising (Freising) and Henry quarreled about the city before the emperor at a Reichstag held in Augsburg. In 1180, with the trial of Henry the Lion, Otto of Wittelsbach became Duke of Bavaria. His Wittelsbach dynasty would rule Bavaria until 1918. In 1255, the dukedom of Bavaria was cut in two, and Munich became the residence of Upper Bavaria.

In 1327, the entire city was destroyed by fire but was successfully rebuilt some years later by Louis IV, the ruling Holy Roman Emperor of the time. In 1632 the city was brought under the control of Gustav II Adolph of Sweden during the Thirty Years' War, but in 1705 it was recaptured and brought under Habsburg rule. The city's first academic institution, the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, was founded in 1759.

By this time, the city was growing at a very quickly and was one of the largest cities in mainland Europe. In 1806, it became the capital of the Bavarian monarchical state, with the state's parliament (the Landtag) sitting in the city along with the new archdiocese of Munich and Freising. Twenty years later another prestigious educational institution, the Landshut University, also based itself in Munich.

Many of the city's finest buildings belong to this period, all of which come under the Maximilian style of architecture, named after the reigning king of the day, Maximilian I. These buildings include the Ludwigstraße, the Ruhmeshalle, and the Königsplatz built by architects Leo von Klenze and Friedrich von Gärtner, and the "Bavaria" statue, built by Schwanthaler.

In 1882 electric lighting was introduced to Munich, and the city hosted Germany's first exhibition of electricity. Nineteen years later the Hellabrunn Zoo opened in the city. After World War I, the city was at the center of much unrest. In November 1918, Communists took power establishing the Munich Soviet Republic (Münchner Räterepublik) which was put down on May 3, 1919 by the right wing Freikorps many of whom were later drawn to Adolf Hitler and National Socialism. In 1923 Hitler and his supporters, who then were concentrated in Munich, staged the Beer Hall Putsch, an attempt at overthrowing the Weimar Republic and gaining power for himself. The revolt was, however, a failure, resulting in Hitler's arrest and the crippling of the Nazi Party, which was virtually unknown outside Munich. However, the city would again become one of the strongholds of the Nazis, when they took power in Germany in 1933. Because of its importance the Nazis also called it Hauptstadt der Bewegung ("capital of the movement"), which indeed it was, with the headquarters of the NSDAP based there. Many Führerbauten ("Führer-buildings") were built around the Königsplatz, and some have survived to this day.

In 1938, the Munich Agreement was signed in the city, ceding the Sudetenland, previously a part of Czechoslovakia, to Germany. It was signed by representatives of Germany, Italy, France and Britain. A year later, in 1939, Georg Elser attempted, but failed, to assassinate Hitler with a bomb in Munich -- an event which could have changed the course of history.

Munich was the city where the White Rose (German: Die Weiße Rose), a group of students that formed a resistance movement from June 1942 to February 1943, was based. They were arrested following a distribution of leaflets in Munich University by Hans and Sophie Scholl.

The city was very heavily damaged during World War II but, after American occupation in 1945, it was rebuilt to a meticulous masterplan.

Munich was the site of the 1972 Summer Olympics, during which Israeli athletes were murdered by Palestinian terrorists.

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Munich".

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