The Heart of Munich.

Statue of Ludwig I

Because of the dire forecast for rain, we changed our original plans for our sight-seeing trip in Munich. Rather than visiting the Residence Museum in the morning, and walking around the town in the afternoon, we flipped the plans. Better to schlep around a museum while it's raining than trying to dash in and out of the shops and play tourist while it pours. Our bus drove us down one of the main drags of Munich: Ludwig Strasse (named after the first King Ludwig, not the so-called "mad" one) and dropped us off in the square.

Theatinerkirche (see the branches?)

Preparations were under way for a religious festival the next day. This  included putting tree branches up in front of many buildings. Some looked as if they had been planted in pots (but were really just stuck in water), others were clearly just placed against the buildings. It added quite a nice nature-flair to the town. Not sure of the significance of tree branches, but I liked the way it looked.

We checked out the large church in the main square called the Theatinerkirche, which began construction in 1663. Plain and unassuming on the outside, it was all fresh, white, carved stucco on the inside. Personally, I liked the simplicity and the innate beauty of the unadorned carvings better than the traditionally gaudy gilded ones. Apparently, this church was designed by the Italians in the high baroque style and modeled after Rome's Sant Andrea della Valle. One of the people who worked on the church, Francois de Cuvillier, is considered to be responsible for bringing the Rococo (high baroque) style to Germany.
   

The Rathaus (City Hall)

After ooing and ahhing over this church, we then headed down to the City Hall (Rathaus) to wait for the chiming of the clock (glockenspiel). As the clock struck 11:00AM, the music began to play and the figures slowly danced around a central pivot. First the characters on the top level danced and twirled, then the figures on the lower level followed suit. It was very sweet. My memory banks tell me I've seen this before, probably as a child.  

Figures dancing around.

The narrow Asam Church, only 8 meters wide.

Monika wanted to take us to another church, this one built by the Asam brothers on one of the side streets, Sendlinger Strasse. Cosmas and Egid Asam began creating this Catholic church in 1733 across from their apartment so that they could clearly see the altar from their window. They donated the final edifice to the city for the public to enjoy. The Asamkirche, as it is known, is supposedly a fine example of late Bavarian baroque Rococo architecture. It is also called the church of St. John of Nepomuk (Where's Nepomuk you ask? Czechoslovakia! This St. John is a Czech saint.).

Asamkirche, late baroque Rococo style

Through some research, I found out that Cosmas was a fresco painter, and his brother, Egid, was a sculptor. You can get a sense of the church here here and even hear a lovely, impromptu choir:   http://it.gloria.tv/?media=157106.

Check out the next post "More Munich".