[MÜNCHEN, GERMANY] — I stopped in Munich for a quick overnight in the summer to catch a flight the next day and loved it so much I vowed to come back and explore it more. So I did for a week over Christmas in 2022. Amazing how different it is compared to when we backpacked to Oktoberfest in the 80s. 🤣🤣. As if.
I combined both of those trips into this single post about the cool architecture and design all over Munich, so you’ll see some summer and winter scenes. I just scratched the surface. So much more I didn’t get to. I can’t wait to go back.
Munich is now a powerhouse of a business and cultural city and one of the rockingest economies in Germany. Lots of tech, corporate headquarters, finance and service industries. And good taste.
Everyone praises the lifestyle here and I can see why. The city is sparkling clean, tight as a drum and so focused on incorporating good design in nearly everything. From public art, to great parks, to architecture to even subway stops.I just scratched the surface. So much more I didn’t get to. Expect lots of pictures.
I wanted to start with this beautiful sculpture by famous artist Olafur Eliasson because it is just so beautifully startling. The “Endless Staircase”. A serpentine staircase sculpture in a suburban office park. Surrounded by the German headquarters of KPMG.
The cool thing is how it looks so different from every angle. Its sexy form snaking amid the rigid boxy colors of the office building background.
Maybe there’s a “working” metaphor here: no matter how hard you work, you end up in the same place.
Truth be told, it actually looks better in photos than in person and they’ve closed it off so you can’t climb on it… or jump off. It’s also a bit of a haul to come out to this suburban office park, so maybe I saved you a trip with these pretty pics, so enjoy.
Munich has invested so much in cool design in public places, making the mundane, special. Everywhere. Like their amazing U-Bahn stations. So many incredible designs, in fact the city is known for it.
I only got a chance to explore a couple, but I could dedicate several days just splaying out along Munich’s impressively clean metro stations, there are so many cool stations to see.
The investment in cool design isn’t just frivolous. The Big Idea is that if each station has its own personality, you’ll know instantly where you are when you roll into the station on a train. Or even seek that station out, boosting the local economy around each station.
My favorite was the Westfriedhof U-Bahn Station. So simple. So elegant. So easy to construct, just using light as a design tool. Not like NYC, where they spend billions on a single station to build a cavernous generic space.
Each station has its own designer and theme. The investment in cool design isn’t just frivolous, the Big Idea is that if each station looks different, you’ll know instantly where you are when you roll into the station on a train, not having to strain out a window to see the signs. And the end result is that if the designs are so cool, more people will seek them out, increasing ridership and fueling the local economies around each station. That’s just brilliant.
The Marienplatz station is probably the most-known, mostly because if you’re in Munich, there’s a 97.5% chance you’re going to passing through on of its S- or U-bahn stations. It’s like being in your own Stanley Kubrick film.
If there’s one thing I remember from my drunken Oktoberfest in the 80s was this orange. It was built for the 1972 Olympics and it felt like it then, orange was so 70s and early 80s. At the time, it looked blecch, but they’ve kept the orange and freshened the designed so now it looks like it was designed yesterday.
And then you have all this cool modern stuff happening underground, then you pop up the escalator and are surrounded by all the Bavarian Beauty.
PRO TIP: Don’t take a taxi or Uber from the Munich airport. Take the S-Bahn train to Marienplatz and you can get to anywhere in the city in no time, for a fraction of the cost.
Okay, hear me out. I’m going to geek out here a bit. This is one of the coolest architectural designs I’ve ever experienced. Every single detail is so thoughtful, so right for the religious expression, so different from everything else in the world.
This is one of the coolest, most moving works of modern architecture I think I’ve ever experienced.
The Herz-Jesu-Kirche — also known as the Sacred Heart Church in the suburbs of Munich. It almost sounds like a cursed location, which is funny for a church. The original church was build here in 1890, then it was bombed during WWII and completely burned out. They completely rebuilt it from 1948-51, but then that church was destroyed by fire in 1994. Finally, in 2000 they rebuilt on the same land with a very modern statement. I bet they felt like they needed to do something completely different. And they did.
It’s a stark glass cube on a big concrete pad. A super modern bell tower towering above. Inside it’s a wooden cocoon, a wooden shoebox, with slats that direct the light to the altar. All adornment stripped away, pared down to the barest essentials.
At the back of the church, a plinth hides a majestic pipe organ, which if you squint, looks like the face on the Shroud of Turin, the tight pipes almost forming a face.
A custom organ amplifies the stripped-down aesthetic of everything else in the place. Nothing but the essential buttons, the pedals, the keys, in the most organized German way.
The spartan exterior hides so much in its spareness. It just looks like a glass cube from afar, but look closely at the window decals, designed to filter the light, but if you look closely, each tiny square in this giant cube is formed from individually-designed set of Nails of the Cross.
Each tiny square in this giant cube is formed from individually-designed set of Nails of the Cross. A specially developed code from the various arrangements of these nails (based on cuneiform script) quotes, in recurring form, the passion story according to John 18-20. Barely repeating itself across the thousands of feet of glass.
You wouldn’t know it at first, but the front of the cube is actually two giant doors — the largest of any church in the world. On special Holy Days of the year, they open them up to the lucky parishioners and neighbors. Breathing new life into this life-giving design.
What you also don’t realize instantly is that this is not just one building, but two. A stark glass exoskeleton on the outside, a warm wooden womb on the inside. A complete building inside a building. Creating serenity inside serenity.
Ingeniously, the Stations of the Cross are arranged around the outside of the church, so the devoted can make their path around without being disturbed by other activities.
As a failed Altar Boy — only there to sneak some wine — and a currently pissed-off, failed Catholic, I haven’t been moved this much for a religion I know longer care about since visiting St. Peter’s in Rome. Here’s a story on the Sacred Heart Church in Atlas Obscura.
The monochromatic pale calm of the interior of the Theatine Church of St. Cajetan and Adelaide. That’s a mouthful, but a godsend when you leave the busy Odeonsplatz and duck into here for some peace.
It goes back to the late 1600s, which is amazing in itself for how modern it feels. It’s like if Shabby Chic was a church.
The Theatine Church. From the outside it’s all golden Bavarian honey in a busy plaza. But then once you walk in… it’s a calming white down comforter. It’s like if Shabby Chic was a church.
“And now, for something completely different” — Monty Python
In one day, I set out to find three completely different churches. One brand new. One just mellow. And then THIS!
The crazy over-the-top Baroque of the Asamkirche. It was once the private chapel of a couple of brothers, sandwiched between their two apartment houses, with windows from their apartments so they could directly see the glorious altar. There needs to be a soundtrack with this place.
It’s a tiny little church, now tucked into a shopping street. But once you go in, it’s like being on shrooms. Actually, would be even better on shrooms. So many details, barking for your attention.
It was a private church built by two brothers, so they could build it any way they saw fit in the old 1700s. And boy did they. You can almost hear the two brothers saying “More! More! More!” I can’t imagine the dusting bill.
It almost overwhelms the camera sensor on my phone there’s such a riot of colors and textures. It’s a tiny little jewel box, only 25’ wide, but like the other modern church, this one uses light with meaning, too. It’s super dark on the bottom, then gets lighter as you move to the heavens on the ceiling.
The giant Englischer Garten (English Garden) park in the heart of Munich. I spent half a day there on a Sunday when nearly all of Munich shuts down. Watching people Urban Surf™️ on the fast-flowing Eisbach, walked around the beautiful great lawns — much like London’s idyllic city parks — and was tempted by a 10:30am beer in the picture-perfect biergarten and following the fast-flowing water from stream to pond to lake.
In summer, people just hitch jump in the fast-flowing clear river and ride it through the park. Giggling the whole way. I so wanted to do that. Next time.
The landscape design all across the park is some of the best I’ve ever seen, very Olmsted-worthy and I like it even better than New York’s Central Park.
There were so many well-planned layers of colors and textures. Different areas with their own personality. It’s incredible that this was all conceived in the late 1700s.
Definitely watch all the surfers riding this perpetual wave in the hearth of Munich. I’ve seen pictures of it for years, but it’s even better in person. In summer, people jump in and float the clean, swift-moving river all through the park.
Definitely watch all the surfers riding this perpetual wave in the hearth of Munich. I’ve seen pictures of it for years, but it’s even better in person.
In summer, people jump in and float the clean, swift-moving river all through the park.
PRO TIP: Nearly everything in Munich closes on Sunday except for a few restaurants. Make that the day to spend in the park.
The Museum Brandhorst is a modern modern-art gallery with some incredible exhibits. But it’s most noted for having the largest collection of Cy Twombly paintings in the world — the whole upper floor is dedicated to the artist. I guess Mister Brandhorst really dug him.
There’s not a lot going on in the Justizpalast Munich (Palace of Justice) except actual justice. But it’s so beautiful on the inside, it’s worth ducking into to watch the MC Escher-esque stairways and gorgeous blue-sky dome.
With only an hour’s sleep on the plane and a 42% blood/caffeine ratio, I powered on thru a rainy afternoon at the fantastic Deutches Museum. Which is a technical, design, science and engineering museum. One of the world’s best. And all the things Germans are best at.It was the December 26th, Second Christmas here, so nearly the entire city was closed. Every shop, church, restaurant, grocery story, spa and hardware store. Everything but a handful of hotel restaurants.I bought beforehand because it was too crowded last time I was here. But found my inner 11 year old and spent hours amongst all the models of bridges, dams and planes. Pure heaven.Most of the museum was undergoing reconstruction so there was a lot I couldn’t see. Definitley go here if you like 🤓🚜🚠✈️🚀⛴️🪝🏭💽⏱️🪤🔭🔬📐
The Deutsches Museum is the world’s largest museum of science and technology. And when you are talking about science and technology, that’d be the Germans.
There is so much to see, plan at least a half-day or make several visits. Each section is broken down my interests, like bridges and dams, machinery, airplanes and flight, science, technology. I could come back here every single return trip.
It gets busy, so make sure you book your tickets in advance and check which sections are open. There’s a lot of renovation and expansion going on.
On my second to last trip to Munich in 2019, I was so excited to see the Deutsches Museum, it was my first stop, but line was three blocks long, it wrapped around the inside and back around the courtyard. Make sure to plan in advance and see if you can buy tickets or reservations. Needless to say, I didn’t make it to the museum that day.
I loved watching this delightful father, who obviously was some kind of engineer, walking his family through each of the bridge exhibits and spending as much time on each on as I did. I think I was in the bridge section for at least two hours.
If’n you’re into food, this is your place, Dallmayr, one of the largest delicatessen businesses in Europe and an institution in Munich. They’ve been selling food for over 300 years.
From this flagship shop from the 1700s, the company has grown to be a giant food purveyor, especially coffee. It’s just the most amazing grocery you’ve ever been in.
Every city or airport I go to in Germany, I always first google “Where is the Manufactum here?” It’s always the first places I try to visit.
Always an amazing selection of the best-designed products in the world, most from Germany, of course, but also other countries. But good design is always the theme. And good provenance, most of the companies are family-owned or have been making good products the same way for dozens of years. Classics in every category. You can’t go wrong, with anything. Whether clothing, kitchen goods, gardening, writing and filing or hardware.
This isn’t the greatest thing in the world, but still kinda cool. An abandoned underpass that’s been turned into a rotating exhibition space. MaxmilliansForum. Sometimes art, sometimes DJs and events. Sometimes good, sometimes meh. But I do like the overgrown escalator a lot, it’s very Planet of the Apes.
No slight to the following suggestions, but everyone always puts them first, I put them last because they are so well-known and already on your radar. But here are some pics so you can see these famous landmarks… and then go see them.
Marientplatz is pretty much the center of the city, all metro lines converge here, the best shopping is nearby. It’s always busy and always gorgeous, especially during the Blue Hour of the day.
This is where all the famed Christmas markets are located during the winter. And, my favorite part: on the 26th, the day after Christmas, with military precision, every Christmas market stall in the city gets torn down and the plazas all get a scrubbing and it’s right back to normal again…not drug out for another month.
The Neues Rathaus (New Town Hall) is the famous part of Marientplatz, on one end of the giant piazza. This is the city hall and “new” is a relative term, since it was new in 1860s. This is where the famous glockenschpiel is and you can go up in the tower for great views over Munich. There’s also the famed Ratskeller restaurant in the basement.
Night or day. Or early morning, the Viktualienmarkt is a lively part of the city. Produce and butchers, sweets, souvenirs, beer halls, the Maypole, great restaurants ringing the edges and surrounding streets. There’s even an Eataly. In winter, all the Christmas markets surround here.
Good design is everywhere in Munich, making everyday mundane things special. Like construction barricades, normally an eyesore. Or a kid’s plastic highchair, designed like fine furniture, without costing much more. Or a urinal in the bathroom, with a strategic candle drawing in the enter to get dudes to aim better and prevent errant splashes. Even the sanitation worker uniforms make them look cool, like elite soldiers, and proud to do their job.
— Last Visited September 1981, July 2018, December 2022; Post Created July 2024 —
I tell ya, the best and most useful website I’ve found is Simply Munich, so clean design and great info. Here’s TimeOut’s take on the 20 best travel tips for Munich. Here’s the official München tourist website. Here is the always awesome NY Times 36 Hours article on Munich from 2019. And TimeOut’s 48 hours guide on what to do in Munich. And What to Do in Munich from The Guardian. The Telegraph’s Weekend Guide to Munich. And a great Munich guide from Vogue. Here’s a great video from Monocle on what makes Munich its #1 rated city in the world.
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