Perhaps not surprisingly for a city of this size - it is after all the largest in Bavaria (and the third largest in Germany) with a population of nearly one and a half million - Munich boasts more museums and art galleries than any visitor could possibly hope to see in a month, let alone during a shorter stay. All told, this vibrant cultural destination can lay claim to being home to 80 or more museums, ranging from massive state-run facilities with rich collections of antiquities and artwork, to humbler affairs focusing on a single theme (the history of the potato, pedal car, or potty, anyone?). The reasons for such a vast selection of museums and galleries have less to do with the city's size than it does with its prosperity and centuries-long tradition as a center of the arts. The following list of the very best of Munich's museums and art galleries - many of them in the city's art district, the Kunstareal - will help ensure your time is well spent.
1 Editor's PickThe Residenz Museum
In the massive Munich Residenz, the main palace of Bavaria's rulers, the Residenz Museum is the most important (and largest) of the city's many museums and galleries. While much of the huge palace complex is open to the public, many of its most interesting sites are included under the umbrella of the Residenz Museum, which opened to the public in 1920 and is now considered one of the best palace museums in Europe. A highlight of a visit is undoubtedly the wonderful Antiquarium. The first part of the Residenz to be built (it was completed in 1571), this 69-meter-long hall with its barrel-vaulted roof and side vaults over the windows houses countless antique busts and statues, as well as more than 100 painted "views" of Bavaria's most picturesque towns and castles. Also of interest is the Gallery of Ancestors (Ahnengalerie) containing 121 portraits of Bavarian rulers; the Porcelain Room (Porzellankabinett) with its vast collections from Vienna, Meissen, and Würzburg; and the Grotto Court (Grottenhof), constructed from crystals and shells in 1586 and boasting a fine bronze figure of Mercury and the lovely Perseus Fountain from the same period. Free audio-guides are available, and English language guided tours can be booked in advance. (There's so much to see at the Residenz Museum that you should be prepared to spend at least a day or two enjoying this impressive attraction.)
Address: Residenzstrasse 1, 80333 München
Official site: www.residenz-muenchen.de/englisch/museum/index.htm
2 Editor's PickThe Deutsches Museum
The Deutsches Museum is the world's largest museum of technology covering an area of more than 50,000 square meters and displaying some 17,000 exhibits. Founded in 1903, the museum's departments are excellently arranged with clear explanations enabling visitors to easily follow the development of each scientific discipline and field of technology through the use of cutting edge displays of scientific apparatus and fascinating demonstrations of experiments, machines, and machinery. Highlights include a number of rare German aircraft, including the vertical take off Dornier Do 31 transport plane, and a number of early military jet aircraft. A vast collection related to land transportation is also worth seeing, covering everything from bicycles and cars to trains and ships, including pre-1900 motor vehicles such as an 1885 Daimler Maybach, as well as vintage railway engines. Also of interest is a vast display of musical instruments, including organs and pianos (concerts and demonstrations are frequently hosted). English language guided tours are available with advance booking.
Address: Museumsinsel 1, 80538 München
Official site: www.deutsches-museum.de/en
3 The Treasury at the Residenz
The many treasures assembled by the Dukes and Electors of Bavaria over the centuries make the Treasury (Schatzkammer) at the Residenz one of the largest, most important - and most valuable - collections of its kind. Founded by Duke Albrecht V in the 16th century, the Treasury accrued further treasures during the reign of Karl Theodor from the cities of Heidelberg,Düsseldorf, and Mannheim, with the last items added in the early 19th century, including the insignia of the Kingdom of Bavaria. Spread over more than ten rooms, the collection's other highlights include a prayer book from 860 AD, a cross which belonged to Queen Gisela from around 1000 AD, the exquisite Statuette of St. George from 1599, and unique items from non-European countries including ivories from Ceylon, Turkish daggers, and Chinese porcelain. (Free English language audio-guides are available.)
Address: Residenzstrasse 1, 80333 München
Official site: www.residenz-muenchen.de/englisch/treasury/index.htm
4 The New Picture Gallery: Neue Pinakothek
The New Picture Gallery (Neue Pinakothek), established in 1853 by King Ludwig I of Bavaria, is considered to be one of the world's most important collections of 19th-century artwork. In its possession are some 400 paintings and 50 works of sculpture ranging from Rococo to Art Nouveau masterpieces, as well as works by Cézanne, Gauguin, van Gogh, Manet, and Monet. Much of the collection is split between 22 Säle (large rooms) and 11 Kabinette (small rooms), where they're exhibited under such groupings as International Paintings, English Paintings (one of the largest such collections outside of the UK and including works by Gainsborough, Hogarth, and Constable), and German Artists of Classicism. English language tours are available upon request with a variety of themes to choose from, and audio-guides are included in the price of admission.
Address: Barer Strasse 29, 80799 München
Official site: www.pinakothek.de/en/neue-pinakothek
5 The Glyptothek: Munich's Ancient Sculpture Gallery
The Glyptothek - a name derived from the Greek "glyptik," meaning sculpture - is the oldest museum in Munich. Completed in 1830, this Neoclassical building houses one of Europe's foremost collections of sculpture, much of it assembled in the early 19th-century by King Ludwig I, a great lover of ancient art. Fronted by an Ionic portico, its many rooms are lit from the central courtyard, the exterior walls being windowless and lined with numerous statues. Highlights include many rare works of Greek and Roman sculpture, including the fine figures from the pediment of the Temple of Aphaia from 500 BC. Other highlights include a sculpture of Homer; a statue of Irene, the Greek Goddess of Peace; and a Sphinx from the roof of the Aeginetan temple. Also of interest - and only a short walk away across a pleasant park - is the State Collections of Antiquities (Staatliche Antikensammlungen), home to the Bavarian collections of Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities.
Address: Konigsplatz 3, 80333 München
Official site: www.antike-am-koenigsplatz.mwn.de/en/glyptothek-munich.html
6 The Bavarian National Museum
Founded in 1855 by King Maximilian II, the Bavarian National Museum (Bayerisches Nationalmuseum), one of Europe's most important museums of decorative arts, stands on a forum-like extension of the magnificent Prinzregentenstrasse. Among its most outstanding exhibits are its collection of medieval German sculpture and its great wealth of tapestries. There are also important collections of bronzes, clocks, porcelain, and glass, and a large section dedicated to the art and cultural history of Bavaria arranged chronologically from the Middle Ages to the 19th-century. (The Late Gothic and Renaissance furnishings in particular testify to the heights reached by bourgeois culture in southern Germany). Also noteworthy are the Augsburg weaver's room, the room containing the Flanders tapestries, and the model towns exhibit. The porcelain exhibit is also of importance, and includes pieces from Meissen, Nymphenburg, and Ansbach, as well as French potteries and a number of smaller manufacturers.
Address: Prinzregentenstraße 3, 80538 München
7 The Old Picture Gallery: Alte Pinakothek
Munich's Old Picture Gallery (Alte Pinakothek), one of the world's largest and finest such facilities, was built between 1836 to replace an older gallery that had become too small for the steadily increasing Royal Collection. Credited as a "masterpiece of architectural proportion," this splendid old gallery - modeled on the Renaissance palaces of Venice - was the largest gallery in Europe built in the first half of the 19th century, and as such became the model for others in bothRome and Brussels. It's a truly massive structure, 127 meters long with short side wings, and home to many wonderful collections, including numerous old Flemish and Dutch paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries (it boasts a rare Rembrandt self-portrait), Italian artworks from the 14th to 18th centuries (including Leonardo da Vinci's Virgin and Child, from 1436), and a broad collection of medieval German paintings from the 15th and early 16th centuries. Numerous Spanish and French masterpieces are also represented. Guided tours are available in English with advance notice, while audio-guides are included with the price of admission.
Address: Barer Strasse 27, 80333 München
Official site: www.pinakothek.de/en/alte-pinakothek
8 The State Gallery of Modern Art
In a stunning modern building in Munich's art district, Kunstareal, Pinakothek der Moderne - the State Gallery of Modern Art - boasts a large collection of modern classical and contemporary works. Housed in the four themed corner sections of the building and connected by a large Rotunda, the permanent collection focuses on the themes of art, architecture, design, and graphic art. Highlights include a large number of paintings by German artists, among them Klee, Schlemmer, Nolde, Baselitz, and Kiefer. The gallery also possesses a considerable collection of works by modern Italian artists, as well as artists from France, Spain, and the USA. English language tours are available upon request, and audio guides are included with the cost of admission. Also of interest to fans of modern art is the Lenbachhaus with works by a variety of Munich painters and contemporary artists.
Address: Barerstrasse 40, 80333 München
Official site: www.pinakothek.de/en/pinakothek-der-moderne
9 BMW Welt and Museum
The BMW Museum is housed in a modern silver-colored building that can best be described as a giant metallic soup bowl. Some 41 meters in diameter, it provides a striking counterpoint to the company's adjacent skyscraper and sprawling factory complex. This fascinating tourist attraction includes examples of BMW's first vehicles, with almost every vehicle ever produced by the company, from the unusual Dixi, popular in the 1920s, to the showy sports and racecars of the 1950s and 1960s, as well as world record-breaking motorcycles. The section devoted to the present day includes BMW's current models as well as demonstrations of modern production methods and a glimpse into the future focusing on new forms of propulsion and futuristic designs and transport systems. Tours of the museum and the vehicle plant are available, as is a variety of interesting family and educational programming.
Address: Am Olympiapark 2, 80809 München
Official site: www.bmw-welt.com/en/
10 The Bavarian State Archaeological Collection
Although housed in a well-designed modern building overlooking Munich's lovely English Garden, the Bavarian State Archaeological Collection (Archäologische Staatssammlung) can trace its roots to 1759 with the foundation of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. By the end of the 19th century, anthropologist Johannes Ranke's efforts to see a separate museum of prehistory established paid off, and the resulting collection is widely regarded as one of the most important Archaeological museums in Europe. Highlights are local finds from the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods, including stone tools and pottery, as well as weapons and tools from the Bronze and Middle Ages, among them items from a royal grave at Wittislingen. Also of interest is the State Museum of Egyptian Art, an impressive collection of antiquities now located in the Kunstareal.
Address: Lerchenfeldstraße 2, 80538 München
Official site: www.archaeologie-bayern.de/en/english-home/
11 Museum Brandhorst
One of Munich's newest museums - and one of its most interesting architecturally - the Museum Brandhorst was opened in 2009 and boasts an excellent collection of modern art. Highlights of the more than 700 pieces on display are 100 works by Andy Warhol, along with some 60 pieces by Cy Twombly, the largest such collection outside of the US. Other featured artists include Joseph Beuys, Damien Hirst, Bruce Nauman, and Eric Fischl. One of the most important parts of this impressive museum is its rare collection of more than 100 books illustrated by Pablo Picasso. English language audio guides are available.
Address: Theresienstraße 35a, 80333 München
Official site: www.museum-brandhorst.de/en.html
12 The Schack Gallery
The Schack Gallery (Sammlung Schack), housed in a building designed in 1907 for the Prussian legation, houses a notable collection illustrating the development of German painting in the 19th century. Its founder, Count Adolf Friedrich von Schack, was a generous patron of the arts, purchasing and commissioning numerous works by many leading 19th-century German painters including Schwind, Spitzweg, Lenbach, and Böcklin. His collection now forms part of the Bavarian State Collection, which includes paintings of the Early Romantic school by Johann Georg von Dillis, Leo von Klenze, and Joseph Anton Koch. Other highlights include masterpieces by Carl Rottmann, Joseph von Führich, and Edward Jacob von Steinle.
Address: Prinzregentenstraße 9, 80538 München
Official site: http://www.pinakothek.de/en/sammlung-schack
No comments:
Post a Comment