Munich

Photographs of Munich, Germany, Winter 2003-4 by Martin Sullivan (22 pictures, 625 KBytes, approximately 4.5 minutes download time at typical modem rates, 2.5 KBytes/s). The pictures have been split relatively crudely into two chunks. This is the first chunk of 11.

This is Stuff, off-topic and possibly ephemeral.

Index: Part 1 * Part 2

During the winter of 2003 and 2004 I did a contract in Munich (München) in southern Germany. The contract was only of just under four months duration, but as is now the custom the digital camera went with me, cue wintery looking pictures.

Sendlinger Tor: This is the southerly gate through old Munich's defenses. It was built during the so-called second town expansion by Ludwig the Bavarian ("dem Bayren"), parts date to 1308, but as with anything of this age, it has been considerably altered over the years.

Stachus (Karls Tor): Karls Tor is built on the site of an older structure and appears to only date from 1771 when Karlsplatz was laid out by Karl Theodor, Elector of Bavaria. The name Stachus is popularly applied to Karlsplatz and is possibly from a corruption of "Eustachius" after the first name of an inn-keeper.

Isotor: The Isotor is the best preserved of Ludwig's gates, dating from the 14th century and the so-called second urban expansion. That having been said it has been heavily restored several times during its history, the last being in the 1950's after it was heavily damaged during the war. It now houses a museum dedicated to Valentin Karl.

Olympic Park: The Olympic Park was built in the early 1970s to house the Olympic Games of 1972. It very much reflects the cutting architectural edge of the time, consisting of a cable stayed roofs covered in clear acrylic plastic. As well as housing the main stadium and various covered halls the park has a large (290m high) telecommunications tower with what has got to be Europe's last revolving restaurant.

Olympic Stadium: From the Olympic Tower one gets the best view of the Olympic Stadium which is, at time of writing, home to both Munich football teams (Bayern and TSV 1860 München).

Olympic Tower: The Olympic Tower at 290m or so high is the tallest building in Munich. It serves as a communications tower and now as a platform to view the surrounding country-side. It is the only place in Europe (in the Author's experience and at time of writing) which still has a rotating resteraunt at the top. The resteraunt is to be recommended, it takes 45 minutes to rotate fully and the food isn't bad if a little pricy.

Schloss Nymphenburg: Schloss Nymphenburg was built by Elector Ferdinand Maria as a summer palace outside Munich. Dating from 1664 the central portion (pictured) has had large wings added to it as well as a summer house in the gardens. The frozen ornamental lake here allows locals to practice a type of curling.

Nymphenburg Botanic Garden: To the rear of Schloss Nymphenburg is a large ornimental garden. The wooden boxes on either side of the road are infact statues enclosed for the winter.

Chinesischen Turm: The Chinese Tower was built toward the end of the 18th century and is Munich's principal monument to Chinoiserie craze that swept Europe then. Built entirely of wood and restored several times it is the centre-piece to a series of restaurents and beer-gardens. All are contained within the Englischer Garten, Munich's large civic park.

Monopteros: "Monopteros" is a generic name for a building with single ring of columns supporting a roof. This folly in the Englischer Garten is built on a small artificial mound that provides the best if only tobogganing in Munich's large park. It was built in 1832 and is inspired by the Greek Parthenon.

Munich Airport: This is the central "atrium" at Munich's new airport. Munich's airport is an all-new effort with two runways and two terminals, the first completed in 1992. Lufthansa's even more recent Terminal 2 seemed to be where the author spent most of his time, delayed. This allowed him to admire the empty shops selling Rolex watches and disinterested travellers. Inspite being kilometers long and having a zillion gates a small city's worth of busses was required to take folk to their parked aircraft. The whole place reeked of no-expense-spared but under the covers seemed to be highly disorganised.

Frauenkirche: The cathedral to Our Lady was started in 1488 and is by far the largest building in the centre of Munich. The distinctive domes were added in 1524 and make the spires just under 100 meters high. The church itself is of an impressive size and is supposed to have allowed, at one time, a congregation of 20,000 people.

Not bored yet? More Pictures of Munich.