KÖNIGSPLATZ

Description

Essentials about Königsplatz in brief

Königsplatz (King’s Square) is one of the most magnificent squares in Munich. Here, antiquity, classicism and modernity meet. The Glyptothek, located on the square, and the Antikensammlung (Collection of Classical Antiquities) across the street display works of art that are thousands of years old. The Propylaea bring a touch of Athens to Munich. And on the square’s green meadows, Munich residents relax in the sun or attend outdoor concerts and cinema open-air events during the summer months.

The history and architecture of Königsplatz

Königsplatz historically goes back to the master builder Karl von Fischer and the garden architect Friedrich Ludwig Sckell. The two were commissioned by the then Crown Prince and later King Ludwig I to extend the former Fürstenweg from the Munich Residenz to Nymphenburg Palace into the boulevard and main street Brienner Strasse.

Karl von Fischer designed Königsplatz based on the model of the Acropolis in Athens. Classical austerity was to be combined with lively greenery and thus correspond to the urban planning ideas of Ludwig I, who wanted to see cultural life, bourgeois ideals, Catholic Christianity, royal administration and the military embedded together in greenery.

The square has a strong reference to Greece. The background for this was the designation of Ludwig’s son Otto as ruler of the newly created Kingdom of Greece after the Greek Revolution. Königsplatz was thus intended to symbolize architecturally the bond between the Kingdom of Bavaria and the Kingdom of Greece. The Doric Propylaea were to represent this connection and at the same time be the gateway to the future. The Ionic Glyptothek was to be the culmination of cultural creativity in the form of a temple building. The building in the south of the square, designed according to the Corinthian order and today housing the State Collections of Classical Antiquities, was called the Art and Industry Exhibition Building in Ludwig’s time to promote art and industry and was intended to show this development in the present.

To create a square surrounded by temples, Karl von Fischer extended Brienner Strasse. No street intersection was the basis for the square; Fischer moved the intersecting streets to the edges of the square. Fischer’s concept called for two temple buildings about 200 meters long on the long sides. However, this concept was only partially realized.

After the court architect Leo von Klenze was commissioned to design Königsplatz, he retained Karl von Fischer’s basic concept. His Glyptothek corresponds with the collection of antiques opposite. As a conclusion, Leo von Klenze erected the Propylaea in the west, which follows the theme of the Propylon, the gateway building of the Athenian Acropolis. The monument is dedicated to the Greek struggle for freedom. The gable decoration thematizes the Greek struggle for freedom in the years 1821-1829, and inside the building plaques bear the names of Greek freedom fighters.

After the NSDAP came to power, the transformation of Munich into the so-called “capital of the movement” began in 1934. Königsplatz, renamed “Königlicher Platz” (“Royal Square”) by the Nazi rulers, was redesigned to reverse Karl von Fischer’s conception. All greenery was removed and at the eastern end the Führerbau and, symmetrically to it, the administrative building of the NSDAP were erected. In addition, two honorary temples were erected as a common burial ground for the National Socialists who died during the failed Hitler-Ludendorff putsch in 1923. Königlicher Platz also played a major role as a site for NSDAP marches and rallies.

During the air raids on Munich during World War II, the classical buildings in particular were severely damaged. The Ehrentempel (Temples of Honor) were still preserved after the end of the war, but were blown up in 1947 at the behest of the U.S. administration. It was not until 1987/88 that Königsplatz was largely restored to its original condition from the beginning of the 19th century.