Whether a “village with a million residents”, the “international city with a soul” or a modern metropolis – this tour shows Munich’s contemporary architecture, innovative design and art in public areas. A guide to the city in its progress from the 20th to the 21st century.
History is everywhere in the former residential town of the Wittelsbach dynasty. Numerous churches, monasteries, fortifications and, above all, Castle Trausnitz remind of Landshut’s heyday, when the Bavarian dukes resided here. Every four years the people of Landshut reenact the magnificent wedding celebrations that took place here in 1475, when Duke Georg der Reiche married Hedwig of Poland and tens of thousand eminent guests celebrated over days.
In the Berchtesgadener land, at the feet of the steep, soaring Watzmann mountain, lies the Königssee. Emerald green and bottomless, the Königssee is one of the most beautiful lakes in Bavaria. Its landmark is the pilgrimage church St. Bartolomä which can only be reached by boat. The wild, untamed nature was an inspiration not only for the writer Ludwig Ganghofer. The Wittelsbach Monarchs and the Prince Regent Luitpold were avid hunters in the region, to which the royal Jagdschlösschen in the vicinity of St. Bartolomä still bears witness.
The former Benedictine monastery Wessorbunn is more than 1200 years old. From this place the first prayer in German language, written shortly after 800, was passed down to us. Later the Wessobrunn workshops produced a large number of eminent plasterers and artists, whose works gained fame well beyond Wessobrunn.
Ettal abbey, founded in 1330 by emperor Ludwig „the Bavarian“, lies quaintly within the landscape of the Graswangtal near Oberammergau. In the centre of the Baroque monastery complex is the Church, an octogon richly ornamented with stucco work of the Wessobrunn school.
1200 years ago Benedictine monks settled here in the prealpine land and left a lasting impact on the whole region. Though they have left long ago, we still get to admire the impressive monastery complex which is dominated by the Basilica and parish church St. Benedikt, a masterwork of Baroque splendour.
Andechs monastery, founded in 1455, is one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Old Bavaria. Visitors and pilgrims who climb up to the „Holy Mountain“ not only seek retreat for the soul in the famous pilgrimage church in Rococo style, but also refreshment for the body with the specialties of the monastery brewery.
In Rottenbuch, not far from the world famous Wieskirche, the steeple of the former collegiate church and today’s parish church Mariä Geburt is tickling the white-blue Bavarian sky. With it’s magnificent Rococo interiour with stucco by Wessobrunn master Joseph Schmuzer and fresco paintings by Matthäus Günther it is one of the sacral jewels of the Pfaffenwinkel.
Codes of remembrance. Jews had lived in Munich since the Middle Ages. The rise of National Socialism brought years of defamation, eviction, deportation and extermination. Today, Jewish life has returned to the centre of the city, in the Jewish Cultural Centre, synagogue and Jewish Museum.
Art Nouveau (Jugendstil) is an epoch in art history and is named “Jugendstil” after the illustrated cultural magazine “Die Jugend”, which was founded in Munich in 1896. Renowned artists contributed to Bavaria’s capital city becoming one of the centres of art nouveau. Numerous buildings in the city still bear witness today to this scandalous style which worshipped beauty and radically challenged older traditions.
This modern church in Munich-Neuhausen was built between 1997 and 2000 after its predecessor had been destroyed by fire. It is of great interest for admirers of modern architecture, not least because of its futuristic cube shape with a 14-metre high blue glass front and transparent sides.
The Church of the Holy Spirit is one of Munich’s oldest church buildings and located in the direct vicinity of the “Viktualienmarkt” food market. It was converted to Baroque and then to Rococo style. Its interior is decorated with high-quality frescoes and stucco work by the Asam brothers.
The changing world of Munich: Once a deprived quarter and later site of numerous breweries and beer gardens, the Haidhausen of today is one of Munich‘s most thriving quarters. Follow the history of this former suburb on this tour and see all the places of interest in Haidhausen. Not only for Munich experts.
The Glyptothek Museum and State Antiquities Collection are located on Königsplatz. The Glyptothek Museum presents a prolific collection of ancient Greek and Roman statues and sculptures. The Antiquities Collection is one of Germany’s largest museums of Greek, Etruscan and Roman art.
A pilgrim’s route through Munich’s city centre. These circular walks include not only Roman Catholicism and Protestantism but also the Jewish community and the role of the Orthodox Church in Munich.
KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau (Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site)
In 1933 the Nazis opened the first concentration camp in Dachau near Munich. More than 40.000 captives lost their lives there. To this day the Dachau concentration camp is an epitome of Nazi terror, inhumanity and unspeakable suffering. The museum and memorial site not only deal with the tragic and horror of this place but also explains how the difficult legacy of the Nazi past has been dealt with since the end of WW II.
Munich as a city of football. The Bavarian capital and football go together, for both professionals and amateurs. This tour is a highlight for all lovers of sports and offers informed answers to everything that a football fan always wanted to know. Look forward to background infos and amusing anecdotes about FC Bayern München and TSV 1860.
The Allianz Arena, built by the architectural team of Herzog & de Meuron, was opened in May 2005 and will delight the heart of every football fan. Not only the Munich football clubs of FC Bayern München and, up until 2017, of TSV 1860 play their home games in this stadium, which can accommodate just under 70,000 spectators. On this tour, you can look behind the scenes at this state-of-the-art World Championship stadium.
The Cathedral Hill in Freising reminds of the very beginnings of Bavaria in the early middle ages. 1250 years ago missionary bishop Bonifatius laid the foundations of the diocese of Freising and the first ecclesiastical organisation. The cathedral hill with cathedral and romanic crypta, episcopal residence and diocesan museum invite to a journey through time of Christianity and religious art in Southern Bavaria.
Weihenstephan is another of Freising’s significant sites. The former wictine monastery complex now houses a historical brewery and a museum.
The Cathedral of Our Lady, the “Frauenkirche”, is the cathedral church of the Archbishop of Munich and Freising and Munich’s primary landmark. Its twin towers topped with their characteristic onion domes, so-called “Welsh Domes”, are visible from a great distance. A visit to the Cathedral is an essential part of every city tour.
Frauenchiemsee (Fraueninsel) in Lake Chiemsee is accessible by boat only, and no more than a few people live there permanently. The island has been dominated by the 1200-year-old nun convent which still exists. The monastery complex, including rests of Carolingian buildings, tells about the monastery’s long history and secluded life on this idyllic little island.
As on old Bavarian settlement and former ducal city Erding has a rich history to offer. Today it is district capital and, located between Munich and the airport, as modern as you could ask for.
The English Gardens are among the world’s largest and most beautiful city parks. Whatever the season, this historic park tempts visitors to undertake a tour of discovery, walking along the many paths, across green lawns, passing the surfers on Eisbach, climbing up to the Monopteros for a view of the city and relaxing in the beer garden by the Chinese Tower.
This church was designed by Giovanni Antonio Viscardi and built in Bavarian Baroque style between 1711 and 1718. During the Second World War, this was the only church in Munich’s city centre which was not damaged by bombing.
The German Museum was founded by Oskar von Miller and is built on an island in the River Isar. With its extensive range of some 28,000 exhibits from about 50 fields of science and technology, it is the largest museum of its kind in the world. The spectacular exhibition bears witness to mankind’s age-old pursuit of knowledge and progress and also includes modern developments such as nano technology.
Deutsches Jagd- und Fischereimuseum : The German Hunting- and Fishingmuseum
You have always wanted to see an original “Wolpertinger”, the famous mythical creature? Then come to the Museum of Hunting and Fishing in Munich’s pedestrian area! The exhibition provides comprehensive information on Bavaria’s hunting history.
Stachus square – new trends and changes during the 1950s
At the end of the 19th, the area around the Karlsplatz („Stachus“) was residence of successful entrepreneurs as well as artists of the fin du siècle represented by Franz von Lenbach’s artists‘ society „Allotria“. The tour evokes the sophisticated life style of the era of the Prince Regent and introduces Munichs’s rapid development in technology, architecture, culture and society, which all came to a halt with the Great War and the short-lived socialist revolution in 1918/19. The tour also addresses the new trends and changes of the Stachus area since the 1950s.
Dachau has not only a scenic old centre with St. Jacob’s Church and the Wittelsbach Castle, it was also home to an artists‘ colony. Carl Spitzweg painted here as well as Max Liebermann and Lovis Corinth, all inspired by the town, its rural hinterland and the seemingly endless view from the castle.
The Cuvilliés Theatre (formerly known as the Residence Theatre) is considered to be Germany’s major Rococo theatre. It is today located in the so-called Apothekenstock (Apothecary Block) of the Munich Residenz and is one of the leading buildings designed by François de Cuvilliés. The theater with its Rococo splendour, where in 1781 the world premiere of Mozart’s Idomeneo was staged, takes you into the world of baroque royal opera.
The landscape around Lake Chiemsee is among the most attractive Bavaria has to offer. It was shaped not only by nuns and monks who settled here as early as the 8th century. Ludwig II’s Herrenchiemsee palace, a „second“ Versailles, was his most ambitious project which celebrates splendour and the monarchy. The Old Castle, however, is a historic site of Democracy: In 1948 the constitutional convention discussed the first draft of the German Grundgesetz there.
Since the consecration of the High Altar on 13th May 1778, the Community Hall has also been unofficially called the Community Hall Church. The church is architecturally unique in that it is divided into an Upper and Lower Church. In the Lower Church is the tomb of the blessed Father Rupert Mayer, who courageously preached against National Socialism.
The „Museum of Phantasy“ is the legacy of artist and collector Lothar Günther Buchheim, whose personal and unique mixture of expressionist art is on show here. A memorial of 20th century art, ideally presented at the banks of Lake Starnberg in the extravagant architecture by Günter Behnisch.
The old centre of the former village is by the old parish church of St. Georg and was first mentioned as early as the 8th century. Since the late Wilhelminian era, an extensive and prestigious residential development has been built, starting from Prinzregentenstrasse, soon to become a hotspot of Munich society. Places of interest include the Angel of Peace by Maximilian Park, the Prince Regent Theatre, the Villa Stuck and the Hildebrand House.
Located in Prinzregentenstrasse, the National Bavarian Museum houses collections of art and cultural history of European standing, from the Romanesque era to the 20th century. They are primarily of Southern German, Bavarian and Munich origin. Among the highlights are wood sculptures in gothic style by Tilmann Riemenschneider and delicate porcelain figurines by Franz Anton Bustelli. The museum‘s collections of nativity scenes are also famous well beyond regional boundaries.
Munich’s cityscape today still features numerous impressive examples of Baroque art – castles, churches and palaces. This architectural style, which originated from Italy, was dominant for several decades towards the end of the 17th century. You will be introduced to the Baroque era in architecture, musical history and painting in „Italy’s most northern city”.
Augsburg counts among Germany’s oldest towns and was founded by Roman emperor Augustus in 15 B.C. With its 2000-year-old history it is no wonder the „city of the Fuggers“ has plenty of sights and attractions to offer.
Although born in Lübeck, Thomas Mann, winner of the Nobel prize for literature, lived in Munich for more than four decades. On this tour, you can relive the era of the Nobel laureate in Bavaria’s capital, which was then one of the world’s leading cultural metropolises. He commemorated his adopted city in his novella “Gladius dei”, which includes the much-quoted phrase “München leuchtete” – “Munich shone“.
The house of Wittelsbach is one of Germany’s oldest aristocratic families and played a decisive role in Munich’s and Bavaria’s history for more than 750 years. Track down the dukes, electors and kings in Munich’s Old City! This historic city walk presents impressive memorials from the worlds of politics, architecture, art and culture.
The Asamkirche right in the Old Center is one of Munich‘s most impressive churches. Its builders, the brothers Cosmas Damian and Egid Quirin Asam, used every inch of the tiny interior to show their breathtaking craftsmanship. Gold-plated figures, ingenious stucco and fresco: The curtain rises to a truly divine spectacle of baroque magnificence.
The Old South Cemetery in Munich was laid out in the 16th century as a plague cemetery outside the town walls. In the 18th and 19th century, numerous well-known personages from Munich‘s society and the worlds of science, politics, art and culture were buried at this cemetery, which holds a place in the history of art and culture.
The “Alte Pinakothek” is one of the world’s major art galleries and presents European masterpieces from the Middle Ages through to the 18th century. Founded by King Ludwig I, it celebrated its 175th anniversary in 2011. The then pioneering architecture by Leo von Klenze presents works by masters such as Albrecht Dürer and Peter Paul Rubens in all their impressive beauty.
The Munich Association of Tourist Guides is a platform on which the tourist guides can present their services. Questions on certain tours, tourist guides or prices will have to be addressed directly at our guides. The Association does not arrange tours!
This is the right address. The main aim of MGV is the representation of the interests of the Munich tour guides and the securing and furthering of its members.
Address your questions at: info@mgv-muenchen.de
Mail address:
MGV e. V.
c/o Reidun Alvestad-Aschenbrenner M.A
Prinzenstraße 18
80639 München
The Munich Tourist Guide Association represents 192 professional, official and independent Tourist Guides of Munich, who offer 187 diverse tours in 31 different languages.
Being a member of the Association of Tourist Guides in Germany (BVGD) the guides of the MGV not only are protected by a professional liability insurance but are also well integrated in the BVGD network with more than 6,000 colleagues. Key objectives of the professional association are the high and verifiable European standard of quality DIN EN 15565 and the sustainability of the professional work.
The official tourist guides of Munich love to explore the city together with you. Regardless whether face to face, or during a personal, but digital Live Tour – we are more than happy to tell you about the culture, life style and traditions of Munich and Bavaria. Let us take you i.e. on a virtual tour to the highlights of Munich, follow the hidden paths or focus on a topic that you are most interested in. show tours …
There are different ways to learn about Munich’s history, from the first settlers on the banks of the River Isar to a modern metropolis, and to hear interesting information and entertaining anecdotes about Bavaria’s capital city and its residents. There are city sightseeing tours which take you to the well-known sights, ranging from the Old City to Nymphenburg Castle and the Olympic site, or city walks which introduce you to Munich’s history and architecture. show tours …
Munich’s three “Pinakothek” galleries are among Europe’s leading art collections and the museum district is still constantly expanding. Munich is a Mecca for art-lovers and boasts outstanding collections relating to many epochs in art history. But not only the fine arts but also museums with technology, historical themes and special collections will be presented to you on professional guided tours. show tours …
For more than 700 years, Bavaria’s rulers from the Wittelsbach dynasty reigned in Munich and decided the fate of the country from the capital city. Many princes left their mark on city architecture and built magnificent monuments and palaces. Guided tours of the castle complexes introduce you to major eras in Bavaria’s history and to its art and culture. show tours …
Join us for a time travel to special locations and places of interest. Learn more about outstanding local personalities and discover important and amazing facts of our favourite town Munich.
St. Alte Peter (Old Peter) and Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady) form the medieval core of Munich’s churches. But since the city was the home of Roman Catholic rulers and the centre of the Counter-Reformation, it also has numerous other ecclesiastical buildings. Famous architects built churches in the style of the Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo and Classicism and prestigious sculptors, wood-carvers and stucco plasterers provided elaborate interiors. show tours …
Between Berchtesgadener Land, Chiemgau and Werdenfelser Land, there stretches to the south of Munich a breathtaking mountain landscape, which, with its lakes and hills, is one of Germany’s most popular holiday regions. On excursions with our tourist guides, you can visit Upper Bavaria’s cultural highlights – the castles built by King Ludwig II, the Baroque monasteries and churches and the many museums. show tours …
Association
MGV welcomes you to Munich
MGV (Association of Munich Tourist Guides) is an alliance of Munich’s tourist guides with the aim to care about and promote professional competence of its members and participation in events such as worldwide conventions of tour guides, celebration of the city anniversary, etc.
The tourist guides’ expertise is guaranteed by their training through Munich’s Tourist Office, certification by the Munich Tourist Guides Association and constant further education.
MGV is a member of the Federal Association of Guides (BVGD). The BVGD is a member of the European Federation of Tourist Guides Association (FEG) and Federation of tourist guides worldwide.
The Association
192 members, 187 different tours in 31 languages
Foundation: May 1995
Aims:
– Safeguarding of Munich tourist guides’ professional interests
– Securing and furthering of members’ competence
Professional qualification:
The high quality of the tours that members of the association offer is guaranteed by BVGD’s further education certificate and further education programmes by MGV on a monthly basis.
Executive Board:
1st President: Reidun Alvestad-Aschenbrenner
2nd President: Georg Reichlmayr
Treasurer: Gabi Kraus
Secretary: Gigi I. Lefranc
Advisory Board: Renate Bartholomae, Christiane Haack M.A., Virginia Leonhardt M.A.
Memberships:
– BVGD – German Federal Association of Tourist Guides
The BVGD is a member of:
– European Federation of Tourist Guides (FEG)
– World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations (WFTGA)