Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(Jewish Museum;
www.juedisches-museum-muenchen.de
; St-Jakobs-Platz 16; adult/ child
€6/3; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun; Sendlinger Tor, Sendlinger Tor)
Coming to terms
with its Nazi past has not exactly been a priority in Munich, which is why the opening of
the Jewish Museum in 2007 was hailed as a major milestone. The permanent exhibit of-
fers an insight into Jewish history, life and culture in Munich, creatively presented over
three floors. The Holocaust is dealt with, but the accent is clearly on contemporary Jewish
culture.
The museum is part of the new Jewish complex on St-Jakobs-Platz that also includes a
community centre with a restaurant and a bunkerish synagogue that's rarely open to the
public. The ensemble reflects the burgeoning renaissance of Munich's Jewish population,
which numbers around 9300, making it the second largest in Germany after Berlin.
Münchner Stadtmuseum
(City Museum; 2332 2370;
www.stadtmuseum-online.de
;
St-Jakobs-Platz 1; adult/con-
cession/child €6/3/free, audioguide €3; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun; Marienplatz, Mari-
enplatz)
Installed for the city's 850th birthday in 2008, the
Typisch München
(Typical
Munich) exhibition at this unmissable museum tells Munich's story in an imaginative, un-
cluttered and engaging way. Taking up the whole of a rambling building, exhibits in each
section represent something quintessential about the city; a booklet-audioguide relates the
tale behind them, thus condensing a long and tangled history into easily digestible themes.
Set out in chronological order, the exhibition kicks off with the founding monks and
ends in the post-war boom decades. The first of five sections,
Old Munich
, contains a
scale model of the city in the late 16th century (one of five commissioned by Duke Al-
brecht V; the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum displays the others) but the highlight here is
the
Morris Dancers
, a series of statuettes gyrating like 15th-century ravers. It's one of the
most valuable works owned by the City of Munich
Next comes
New Munich
, which charts the Bavarian capital's 18th- and 19th-century
transformation into prestigious royal capital and the making of the modern city. The
Canaletto View
gives an idea in oil paint of how Munich looked in the mid-18th century,
before the Wittelsbachs launched their makeover. The section also takes a fascinating look
at the origins of Oktoberfest and Munich's cuisine, as well as the phenomenon of the 'Mu-
nich Beauty' - Munich's womenfolk are regarded as Germany's most attractive.
City of Munich
takes a look at the weird and wonderful late 19th and early 20th cen-
tury, a period known for Jugenstil architecture and design, Richard Wagner and avant-
garde rumblings in Schwabing. Munich became the 'city of art and beer', a title many
might agree it still holds today.
MUSEUM
