Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is not a state of its own, and it ranks as the 11th-largest city in the European Union. The metropolitan area has around 3 million inhabitants, and the broader Munich Metropolitan Region is home to about 6.2 million people. It is the third largest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union. Munich is located on the river Isar north of the Alps. It is the seat of the Upper Bavarian administrative region. With 4,500 people per km2, Munich is Germany's most densely populated municipality. It is also the second-largest city in the Bavarian dialect area after Vienna.
The first record of Munich dates to 1158. The city has played an important role in Bavarian and German history. During the Reformation, it remained a Catholic stronghold. Munich became the capital of the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1806 and developed as a centre for arts, architecture, culture, and science. The House of Wittelsbach ruled until 1918, when the German revolution of 1918–1919 ended their reign and saw the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic. In the 1920s, Munich became a centre of political movements, including the rise of the Nazi Party. The city was known as the "Capital of the Movement". During World War II, Munich was heavily bombed, but much of its historic architecture has since been restored. After the war, the city's population and economy grew rapidly. Munich hosted the 1972 Summer Olympics and the 1974 FIFA World Cup final.
Munich is a major centre for science, technology, finance, innovation, business, and tourism. It has a high standard of living, ranking first in Germany and third worldwide in the 2018 Mercer survey. It was named the world's most liveable city by Monocle's Quality of Life Survey 2018. Munich is the wealthiest city in the European Union by GDP per capita among cities with over one million inhabitants and is among the most expensive German cities for real estate and rents. In 2023, 30.1% of residents were foreigners, and 19.4% were German citizens with a migration background from abroad. Munich's economy is based on high tech, automobiles, the service sector, information technology, biotechnology, engineering, and electronics. Multinational companies such as BMW, Siemens, Allianz SE, and Munich Re are headquartered there. The city has two research universities and many scientific institutions. Munich is known for its architecture, cultural venues, sports events, exhibitions, and the annual Oktoberfest, the world's largest Volksfest.
History
Etymology
Munich was a tiny 12th-century monastic settlement, which was named zu den Munchen. The Old High German Munche served as the base for the modern German city name München.Prehistory
The river Isar was a prehistoric trade route and in the Bronze Age Munich was among the largest raft ports in Europe. Bronze Age settlements up to four millennia old have been discovered. Evidence of Celtic settlements from the Iron Age have been discovered in areas around Ramersdorf-Perlach.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. A Roman settlement north-east of Munich was excavated in the neighborhood of Denning.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. The first known Christian church was built ca. 815 in Fröttmanning.Origin of medieval town
The first medieval bridges across the river Isar were located in current city areas of Munich and Landshut. Henry the Lion, the Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, 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. Historians date this event at about 1158. The layout of Munich city, with five city gates and market place, resembled that of Höxter.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 are now located.
Otto of Freising protested to his nephew, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. 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.
14 June 1158 is considered the official founding day of the city of Munich. Archaeological excavations at Marienhof Square in advance of the expansion of the S-Bahn 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. The old St. Peter's Church near Marienplatz is also believed to predate the founding date of the town.
In 1175, Munich received city status and fortification. In 1180, after Henry the Lion's fall from grace with Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, 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.
In 1349, the Black Death ravaged Munich and Bavaria.
The growth of Munich was supplemented by its location on top of a gravel bed, where the Isar branched into Munich City Streams, which in turn provided power for many mills and industries within Munich.
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
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. The Renaissance movement beset Munich and the Bavarian branch of the House of Wittelsbach under Duke Albrecht V who 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. 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. 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.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. William V was addressed with the epithet "the Pious" and like his contemporary Wittelsbach dukes promoted himself as "father of the land", encouraged pilgrimages and Marian devotions. 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.
The Catholic League was founded in Munich in 1609. In 1623, during the Thirty Years' War, Munich became an electoral residence when Duke Maximilian I was invested with the electoral dignity, but in 1632 the city was occupied by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden.
In 1634 Swedish and Spanish troops advanced on Munich. Maximilian I published a plague ordinance to halt an epidemic escalation. The bubonic plague nevertheless ravaged Munich and the surrounding countryside in 1634 and 1635. During the Thirty Years' War troops again converged on Munich in 1647 and precautions were taken, so as to avoid another epidemic.
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. When Elector Maximilian III Joseph died in 1745, the succession empowered the Palatinate branch within the House of Wittelsbach.
In 1777 Bavarian lands were inherited by Karl Theodor. 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. Munich was the largest German city to lose fortification in the 1790s. In 1791 Karl Theodor and Count Rumford started to demolish Munich's fortifications. 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.
After making an alliance with Napoleonic France, the city became the capital of the new Kingdom of Bavaria in 1806 with Elector Maximillian IV Joseph becoming its first king. The state parliament and the new archdiocese of Munich and Freising were also located in the city.
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, Maximilian Joseph generated state revenues by selling off church lands. While many monasteries were reestablished, Maximilian Joseph I succeeded in controlling the right to brew beer. The king handed the brewing monopoly to Munich's wealthiest brewers, who in turn paid substantial taxes 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. In October 1810 a beer festival was held on the meadows just outside Munich to commemorate the wedding of the crown prince and princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The parades in regional dress represented the diversity of the kingdom. The fields are now part of the Theresienwiese and the celebrations developed into Munich's annual Oktoberfest.
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 were taxed, and the state also controlled the quality of beer while limiting the competition among breweries. 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. 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 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.
In 1832 Peter von Hess painted the Greek War of Independence at the order of King Ludwig I. Ludwig I had the Königsplatz built in neoclassicism as a matter of ideological choice. Leo von Klenze supervised the construction of a Propylaea between 1854 and 1862.
During the early to mid-19th century, the old fortified city walls of Munich were largely demolished due to population expansion. 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 was completed, with a line going to Landshut and Regensburg in the north. 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 gave Munich the endearment "Isar-Athen" and "Monaco di Bavaria". Between 1856 and 1861 the court gardener Carl von Effner landscaped the banks of the river Isar and established the Maximilian Gardens. From 1848 the Münchner Neueste Nachrichten was published as a regional newspaper in Munich. In 1857 the construction of the Maximilianeum was begun.
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.
In 1900 Wilhelm Röntgen moved to Munich, where he was appointed as a professor of physics. In 1901 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.
The Prince Regent Luitpold's reign from 1886 to 1912 was marked by tremendous artistic and cultural activity in Munich. 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. Prominent Munich Jugendstil artists include Hans Eduard von Berlepsch-Valendas, Otto Eckmann, Margarethe von Brauchitsch, August Endell, Hermann Obrist, Wilhelm von Debschitz, and Richard Riemerschmid. In 1905 two large department stores opened in Munich, the Kaufhaus Oberpollinger and the Warenhaus Hermann Tietz, both having been designed by the architect Max Littmann. In 1911 the expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter was established in Munich. Its founding members include Gabriele Münter.