Munich

About Munich

In Munich, it’s the mix that makes the message. Old meets new, past meets present and future, the modern blends harmoniously with the traditional, bits and bytes with beer, business and leisure. For the visitor, there is never any shortage of sights to see or activities to engage in.

The Bavarian Metropolis with its 1.5 million inhabitants lies virtually at the centre of Europe.

Munich’s origin goes back to an early settlement of monks from the Tegernsee Monastery which was called “ad Munichen” (the monks’ home).

The situation leading to its later growth was treated by an act of violence of Henry the Lion, Duke of Bavaria from the House of Guelph. At that time the salt transports coming from Reichenhall and Hallein had to go over a bridge spanning the Isar River at Föhring north of Munich. The bridge passage was accompanied by a toll, and this traffic brought considerable revenue to the Bishop of Freising in whose territory Föhring was located. Henry the Lion had this bridge destroyed forcing the salt transports to use his new bridge a few miles upstream in ducal territory. On June 14, 1158, the new bridge, the market, the customs office and the mint at “Munichen” were approved by imperial decree thus in one fell swoop the monastic settlement assumed a completely different function. The rapidly prospering town was selected by the ruling family of the Wittelsbach in the middle of the 13th century as its Residence due to a territorial split and in 1294 it was granted a new municipal charter. During the reign of Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian – of the Wittelsbach family – the city extended its walls six fold and in 1504 it finally became the capital of the reunited Duchy of Bavaria. Under the 700 years of Wittelsbach reign as dukes, electors and kings Munich attained increasingly the reputation of being a European centre of culture.