The Munich Residenz is the former royal palace of the Bavarian monarchs in the center of the city of Munich. The Residenz is the largest city palace in Germany and is today open to visitors for its architecture and room decorations, and displays from the former royal collections.
The complex of buildings contains ten courtyards and the museum displays 130 rooms. The three main parts are the Königsbau (near the Max-Joseph-Platz), the Alte Residenz (towards the Residenzstraße) and the Festsaalbau (towards the Court Garden). A wing of the Festsaalbau contains the Cuvilliés Theatre since the reconstruction of the Residenz after World War II. It also houses the Herkulessaal (Hercules Hall), the primary concert venue for the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. The Byzantine Court Church of All Saints (Allerheiligen-Hofkirche) at the east side is facing the Marstall, the building for the former Court Riding School and the royal stables.
The first buildings at this site were erected in the year 1385. The sturdy new castle (Neuveste – new fortress), surrounded by wide moats at what used to be the very north eastern corner of the new double ring of walls, replaced the difficult to defend Old Court in the middle of the town as residence of the Wittelsbach rulers. The dukes of the often divided country felt the urge to keep some distance from the frequently rebellious city dwellers at the one hand and for some defense against their warlike relatives at the other. So they sought to build themselves a shelter impregnable and easy to leave (directly towards the glacis, without having to enter city lanes) at the same time. The gothic foundation walls and the basement vaults of the old castle are the oldest surviving parts of the palace. The Residenz’s development over the centuries didn’t only take place out of its main nucleus, the Neuveste, but in addition it grew together out of several single parts and extensions, the first of which used to be the Antiquarium. Finally, after more than four centuries of development, the giant palace had practically replaced a whole former city quarter with barracks, a monastery, houses and gardens. It assembles the styles of the late Renaissance, as well as of Baroque, Rococo and Neo-Classicism.
The Hall of Antiquities (Antiquarium), built in 1568-1571 for the antique collection of Albert V (1550–1579) by Wilhelm Egkl and Jacobo Strada, is the largest Renaissance hall north of the Alps. Remodeled into a banquet hall by Friedrich Sustris in 1586-1600. The Antiquarium housed the ducal library until 1581. The low hall was then covered with a barrel vault that had 17 window lunettes. The hall was adorned with paintings by Peter Candid, Antonio Ponzano, and Hans Thonauer the Elder, though some were initially designed by Sustris himself. The Court Chapel (Hofkapelle), the Emperor’s Staircase (Kaisertreppe) and Imperial Hall (Kaisersaal), the Stone Rooms (Steinzimmer; 1612–1617; general design by Hans Krumpper) and the Trier Rooms (Trierzimmer); ceiling frescoes by Peter Candid) built for Maximilian I are typical for the early 17th century.
The Court Garden (Hofgarten) at the northern side opposite to the Festsaalbau was laid out under Maximilian I. In the middle of the park in French style a circular temple (1615) is crowned by a statue of Bavaria (1594 by Hubert Gerhard). The western Hofgarten arcades with the gate were done by Klenze, the northern wing with the former electoral gallery houses a theatre museum. The remnansts of some renaissance arcades in the north east of the park were integrated to the Bavarian State Chancellery in 1992. The people of Munich love to denounce it as Straussoleum, after a former state prime minister who commissioned it, or even Munich White House, in reference to the long and hard fights that prevented the state government from erecting three giant wings instead of one. These wings supposedly would have destroyed the overall impression of the court gardens.
