It seemed as the main attractions of the Old Town
for most of the tourists were Marienplatz (main square), Viktualienmarkt (market) and Hofbrauhaus (brewery).
Marienplatz is a large open square with a Marian
column, the Old and the New Town Hall. Its tower contains the
Rathaus-Glockenspiel. Between the Old and the New Town Halls are restaurants,
which are pretty busy during the summer. But this is the best place to enjoy
the Old Town at its best.
The New Town Hall was built between 1867 and 1908 in
a Gothic Revival architecture style. The architecture is amazing and the style looks
older than a 19th century building. Its main attraction is the
Rathaus-Glockenspiel. Every day at 11 am (as well as 12pm and 5pm in summer) it
chimes and re-enacts two stories from the 16th century to the
amusement of mass crowds of tourists and locals. It consists of 43 bells and 32
life-size figures. The top half of the Glockenspiel tells the story of the
marriage of the local Duke Wilhelm V (who also founded the world famous
Hofbrauhaus) to Renata of Lorraine. And in their honor, there is a joust. This
is then followed by the bottom half and second story of the coopers’ dance.
According to myth, 1517 was a year of plague in Munich. The coopers are said to
have danced through the streets to ‘bring fresh vitality to fearful
dispositions.’ The coopers remained loyal to the duke, and their dance came to
symbolize perseverance and loyalty to authority through difficult times. By
tradition, the dance is performed in Munich every seven years. This was
described in 1700 as ‘an age-old custom.’ The next one is in 2019.
New Town with Marian column
Crowds photograph re-enactment
Glockenspiel
The Old Town Hall was documented for the first time
in 1310, constructed in 1392/1394 and re-designed in Late-Gothic style in
1470-1480. After some alterations, it was restored in Neo-Gothic style in
1861-1864. It was tunneled in 1877 with a drive-through and a separate
pedestrian’s passage.
On the other side of the Old Town Hall, there is
Viktualienmarkt, the most popular market of Munich. It developed from an
original farmers’ market to a popular market for gourmets with stalls offering
flowers, exotic fruit, spices, cheese, beer and more. What caught my eye were
the original decorations.
Maypole
Hofbrauhaus is a public Royal Brewery owned by the
Bavarian state government. It was founded in 1589 by the Duke of Bavaria,
Wilhelm V. There are many types of beer brewed using original recipes handed
down by the Duke.
The brewery is known for inspiring the song, “one,
two, down the hatch.” Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart lived around the block from the
beer hall in the late 18th century. In a poem he wrote, Mozart
claimed to have written the opera Idomeneo
after several visits to the Hofbrauhaus.
