Munich

Munich and its…

… facts

Munich (lat: apud Munichen- by the monks) is the capital of Bavaria, a state in the southeast of Germany. With 1.35 Mio inhabitants it’s the biggest town in Bavaria and the 3rd biggest in Germany. More than 2.6 Mio people live in the area of Munich. It is situated in the beautiful foothills of the Alps, which can be seen even from Munich. The river Isar runs through Munich, generating lots of nice spots alongside the river for sports or chilling like the English Garden. A lot of smaller rivers are branched of the Isar and run through the city, like the Eisbach, which is famous for its surfers.

… history

Munich was first mentioned in 1158 and belonged to the diocese Freising. In 1240 it came in hold of the Wittelsbach-family and 1314 it became residence of the king. In 1506 it became the capital of whole Bavaria. But only 300 years later under King Ludwig I and Max II Munich started to rise. It’s wellknown parts like the Königsplatz, the Residence, the Maximilianstraße were built. Munichs dark chapter started with the Hitlerputsch in 1923. After the second world war Munich became a high tech site.

… sights

Just to mention a few: the Marienplatz in the middle of Munich, with the town hall and its “Glockenspiel”, the Viktualienmarkt, the Olympiastadion and the surrounding area, the town gates (Iartor, Sendlinger Tor), the University, where the “weiße Rose” handed out their leaflets during the second world war, Nymphenburg Castle, the Museums of Art, a lot of churches, Feldherrnhalle, Maximiliansstraße, Prinzregenstraße…

… arts

A lot of german writers lived in Munich,e.g. Heinrich Heine, Berthold Brecht, Thomas Mann and many more. There is a lot to see in theater, concerts, opera or ballet.

… its food and beer

The “Weißwurst” was made for the first time in Munich in 1857 and is one of THE Bavarian specialties, next to “leberkassemmel”, “Brezn” and the Munich beer. The most spectacular place to enjoy your beer is definitively on the octoberfest, which is a synonym for Bavaria and Munich all over the world. It takes part once a year at the end of September and attracts millions of people from all over the world. We guess you have heard about..

… its universities

There are two main universities in Munich, the Ludwig-Maximilians University and the Technical University of Munich. Besides these, there are some smaller universities where you can specialise in arts, theater, musics or politics for exampple. Besides the universities there are several non-profit research institutes in Munich. Most relevant in our field of studies are the famous Max Planck Gesellschaft, some Frauenhofer instituts and the Helmholtz centres.