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Munich Travel Guide
CULTURE
Pre 20th Century History
Settlement in the Munich area dates back to Roman times, but 8th-century Benedictine monks get the guernsey for putting the city on the map - hence the moniker Munichen, or 'monk settlement'. The city's official birth date is 1158, the year that the Imperial Diet in Augsburg sanctioned the short-lived rule of Heinrich der Löwe. Munich passed to the House of Wittelsbach in 1240, and the illustrious Wittelsbach family dominated the city (and indeed Bavaria) right up to the 20th century.
Munich became a ducal residence in 1255, and in the next century it was expanded, fortified and given a salt-trading monopoly by Ludwig the Bavarian, builder of the Alter Hof. The foundations for a wealthy trading city were in place, and over the ensuing 200 years the city duly prospered to become the capital of the Duchy of Bavaria in 1503. The only black cloud was the devastation caused by the plague, which visited the city several times over a period of 150 years from 1349. Sewage and sanitation were gradually improved as a result, and by 1505 the population had stabilised at 13,500.
The Reformation was ill-received by Bavaria's Duke Wilhelm IV, and Munich remained resolutely Catholic. The city was Germany's Counter-Reformation capital, its lofty position underscored by the erection of bankrupting Renaissance splendours like the Residenz, the Bavarian State Library and Michaelskirche. Munich was temporarily surrendered to Sweden during the Thirty Years' War, and came under Habsburg rule from 1705-14. Napoleon's rejigging of Germany's royal hierarchy elevated Bavaria to the rank of kingdom and doubled its size, and in 1818 it became the first German state to have a written constitution. Elector Max Joseph was crowned the first King of Bavaria, and it's thanks to him that Oktoberfest is a big deal today: he put on such a big bash to celebrate the 1810 marriage of his son, Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig I, the Müncheners have been trying to outdo it ever since.
Things really took off in the 19th century, with the relocation of the university to Munich and the arrival of Munich's first railway. Ludwig initiated a massive building program which transformed his capital into a cultural and artistic centre; Königsplatz, the Alte Pinakothek, Ludwigstrasse, the Ruhmeshalle at Theresienwiese and sections of the Residenz date from this period. Ludwig was undone by his absolutism, press censorship and public infatuation with that fabled seducer of monarchs, Lola Montez, and in 1848 he handed the crown to his son, Maximilian II, who oversaw the industrialisation of the city. Bavaria's last king was the unforgettable Ludwig II (1845-86), dubbed 'the mad king' for his loner tendencies and the castle-building extravaganzas that pushed the kingdom to bankruptcy. Bavaria lost its independent status when Ludwig backed the losing side in the Franco-Prussian war, and the state was finally absorbed into the new German Reich in 1871. The king was declared mentally unfit in a dubious psychological exam in 1886. He was arrested and found drowned soon afterwards, apparently under mysterious circumstances.
Modern History
By the turn of the 20th century Munich had more than half a million residents and the best electric lighting of any city in Europe. Creative types like Kandinsky, Marc, Klee, Strauss, Ibsen and Mann called the city home, clustering in the bohemian suburb of Schwabing. Munich was almost starved to extinction in WWI and as a hotbed of postwar political turmoil and economic collapse it was fertile ground for Adolf Hitler's National Socialist movement. The party had its first get-together at Munich's Hofbräuhaus in 1920, and the city was stigmatised by later generations as the hub of Hitler's operations post-1933, when he gained power over Germany. Just weeks after his rise to power, the first concentration camp was set up north of the city at Dachau, and the fate of Munich's Jews was sealed by the night of terror called Reichskristallnacht in 1938. Munich was badly damaged by Allied bombing in WWII, with nearly half the city in ashes by war's end. It was occupied by US forces on 30 April 1945.
In the postwar years, the city's historic core was slowly and sympathetically restored, its population was consolidated and it increasingly became a hub for publishing, fashion, cinema and mega companies like Siemens, BMW and truckmaker MAN. The massive program of reconstruction culminated in Munich hosting the 1972 Olympic Games, an event that turned from celebration to tragedy when 11 Israeli athletes were murdered by Palestinian terrorists. In 2006, the city won a brighter place in history books by hosting the opening game of soccer's World Cup.
Recent History
Today Munich has a rich, self-assured reputation and is recognised for having the highest quality of life of any German city, boasting a mix of conservatism and artistic vibrancy, big-city sophistication and earthy entertainment.
The city is governed by the SPD party (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands), which is remarkable because the rest of Bavaria is a bastion of the conservative CSU (Christlich-Soziale Union). Now In his third term as mayor, Herr Ude plans to run again in 2008.
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