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Munich is a wealthy city—and it shows. At times this affluence may come across as conservatism. But what makes Munich so unique is that it's a new city superimposed on the old. The hip neighborhoods that make up the City Center (Innenstadt) are replete with traditional locales, and flashy materialism thrives together with a love of the outdoors.
Although the museum places emphasis on Bavarian cultural history, it has art and artifacts of international importance and regular exhibitions that attract worldwide attention. The museum is a journey through time, principally from the early Middle Ages to the 20th century, with medieval and Renaissance wood carvings, a unique collection of Christmas crèches (the Krippenschau), and a significant Jugendstil (art nouveau) collection.
Founded in 1862, this museum houses an enormous quantity of ethnographic articles from around the world, including arts, crafts, photographs, and library material. The extensive museum takes a peek into non-European cultures from Africa, America, Asia, Australia, the Near and Middle East, and the South Seas to see how they differ (or not) from Europe with both permanent displays and special exhibits.
This is Bavaria's fascinating record of its history, from prehistoric times through the Middle Ages through a rich collection of archaeological finds. Head down to the basement to see the fine Roman mosaic floor, and head up to the SOLÂ restaurant and its seasonal open-air terrace.
To get a sense of the town's history, visit the Bezirksmuseum (district museum), which displays historical artifacts, furniture, and traditional costumes from Dachau and its surroundings.
This quirky museum is in the enormous former St. Augustus Church, and it contains a large collection of fishhooks, taxidermy animals (including a 6½-foot-tall brown bear and a grizzly from Alaska), and a 12,000-year-old megaloceros (giant deer) skeleton. You'll even find the Wolpertinger, a mythical creature with body parts of various animals. There are also rotating special exhibitions exploring native wildlife, as well as the history of hunting and fishing.
The striking Jewish Center at St.-Jakobs-Platz has transformed a formerly sleepy area into an elegant, busy modern square. The buildings signify the return of the Jewish community to Munich's City Center, six decades after the end of the Third Reich. The center includes a museum focusing on Jewish history in Munich and the impressive Ohel Jakob Synagogue, with its rough slabs topped by a lattice-like cover, manifesting a thought-provoking sense of permanence. The third building is a community center, which includes the kosher Einstein restaurant ( 089/2024–00332).
The castle of Possenhofen, home of Ludwig's favorite cousin, Sissi, stands on the western shore, practically opposite Berg. Local lore says they used to send affectionate messages across the lake to each other. Sissi married the Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I, but spent more than 20 summers in the lakeside castle. The inside of the castle cannot be visited, but there is a nice park around it, and you can learn more about Sissi at the Kaiserin Elisabeth Museum (Sissi-Museum), set in the historical Possenhofen railway station (yards from S-bahn Possenhofen).
Located at the very site where the "Brown House," the former Nazi Party headquarters, once stood, this important history museum tells the story of the rise of national socialism in Germany. Its exhibitions, which include a permanent exhibit called "Munich and National Socialism," and educational programs focus on the past while providing a present and future perspective.
More than 300,000 coins, banknotes, medals, and precious stones, some 5,000 years old, are among the treasures of the Bavarian State Coin Collection.
Various Bavarian rulers were fascinated with the ancient world and in the 19th century accumulated huge quantities of significant Egyptian treasures, part of which make up the Staatliche Sammlung Ägyptischer Kunst. The collection is housed in an impressive modern building in Munich's superb Kunstareal.
