House of Art in Munich

21 January 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  10 minutes

© Rufus46/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Rufus46/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Haus der Kunst (House of Art) is a non-collecting modern and contemporary art museum in Munich, Germany. It is located at Prinzregentenstraße 1 at the southern edge of the Englischer Garten, Munich’s largest park. Despite being a non-collecting institution, Haus der Kunst has over the years received numerous works of art. In 2011, Haus der Kunst forged a partnership with the private Goetz Collection to co-curate exhibits of video art. By 2013, it was one of the beneficiaries – along with the Bavarian State Museums and the Neues Museum in Nuremberg – when Ingvild Goetz donated her collection of video art to the state of Bavaria and made the collection as a whole, which includes almost 5,000 works, available on permanent loan. In 2017, Jewish artist Mel Bochner donated his piece Joys of Yiddish (2012-15) to Haus der Kunst. Comprising a list of Yiddish words in yellow on black, it traverses the museum’s façade as a reminder of the tragic disappearance of the language from German culture.   read more…

Margravial Opera House Bayreuth

25 November 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Opera Houses, Theaters, Libraries, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  9 minutes

Stage © Pierre Schoberth/cc-by-sa-3.0

Stage © Pierre Schoberth/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Margravial Opera House (German: Markgräfliches Opernhaus) is a Baroque opera house in the town of Bayreuth, Germany, built between 1745 and 1750. It is one of Europe’s few surviving theatres of the period and has been extensively restored. On 30 June 2012, the opera house was inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage List. It was built according to plans designed by the French architect Joseph Saint-Pierre (ca. 1709 – 1754), court builder of the Hohenzollern margrave Frederick of Brandenburg-Bayreuth and his wife Princess Wilhelmine of Prussia. It was inaugurated on the occasion of the marriage of their daughter Elisabeth Fredericka Sophie with Duke Charles Eugene of Württemberg.   read more…

Würzburg Residence

20 September 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  11 minutes

Kaisersaal © Andreas Faessler/cc-by-sa-4.0

Kaisersaal © Andreas Faessler/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Würzburg Residence (German: Würzburger Residenz) is a palace in Würzburg, Germany. Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt and Maximilian von Welsch, representatives of the Austrian/South German Baroque style, were involved in the construction, as well as Robert de Cotte and Germain Boffrand, who were followers of the French Style. Balthasar Neumann, court architect of the Bishop of Würzburg, was the principal architect of the Residence, which was commissioned by the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg Johann Philipp Franz von Schönborn and his brother Friedrich Carl von Schönborn in 1720, and completed in 1744. The Venetian painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, assisted by his son, Domenico, painted frescoes in the building. Interiors considered masterworks of Baroque/Rococo or Neoclassical architecture and art include the grand staircase, the chapel, and the Imperial Hall. The building was reportedly called the “largest parsonage in Europe” by Napoleon. It was heavily damaged by Allied bombing during World War II, and restoration has been in progress since 1945.   read more…

Lindau on Lake Constance

26 February 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

The famous harbour entrance © Julian Herzog/cc-by-4.0

The famous harbour entrance © Julian Herzog/cc-by-4.0

Lindau is a major town and island on the eastern side of Lake Constance (Bodensee in German) in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital of the county (Landkreis) of Lindau, Bavaria and is near the borders of the Austrian state of Vorarlberg and the Swiss cantons of St. Gallen and Thurgau. The coat of arms of Lindau town is a linden tree, referring to the supposed origin of the town’s name (Linde means linden tree in German). The historic town of Lindau is located on the 0.68-square-kilometre (0.26 sq mi) island of the same name which is connected with the mainland by a road bridge and a railway dam leading to Lindau station.   read more…

Andechs Abbey in Bavaria

4 December 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Boschfoto/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Boschfoto/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Benedictine priory and erstwhile abbey of Andechs is a place of pilgrimage on a hill east of the Ammersee in the Landkreis of Starnberg (Upper Bavaria) in Germany, in the municipality Andechs. Andechs Abbey is famed for its flamboyant Baroque church and its brewery, Klosterbrauerei Andechs. Composer Carl Orff is buried in the church.   read more…

University of the German Federal Armed Forces

26 November 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Hamburg, Universities, Colleges, Academies Reading Time:  18 minutes

Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg - Campus © Reinhard Scheiblich

Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg – Campus © Reinhard Scheiblich

The German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) runs two universities: one in Munich, (Bundeswehr University Munich) and another in Hamburg (Helmut Schmidt University – which focus on the scientific work and the academic study of the German armed forces’ officers. Unlike other nations’ military academies, both universities only offer courses of study which have almost no relation to the military and correspond to courses at regular German universities. All professors at both universities are civilians. The future officers, who must serve for at least 13 years (16 for pilots), obtain a bachelor’s or master’s degree comparable to the academic degrees granted at the other universities in Germany. Students at the Federal Armed Forces Universities need at least four academic years to achieve the master’s degree. Since 2003, civilian students have also been admitted to study at the universities of the Federal Armed Forces, provided that spaces for enrollment are available and that industrial companies are willing to underwrite the costs. The academic program at the universities of the Federal Armed Forces can be finished faster than at civilian universities because the curriculum contains about one third more content per year (trimesters instead of semesters are utilized). In exchange, the officers and officer candidates are fully paid and do not have to work in their free time.   read more…

Hofbräuhaus in Munich

9 September 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

© G Da/cc-by-sa-3.0

© G Da/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Hofbräuhaus am Platzl is a beer hall in Munich, Germany, originally built in 1589 by Bavarian Duke Maximilian I as an extension of the Staatliches Hofbräuhaus in München brewery. The general public was admitted in 1828 by Ludwig I. The building was completely remodeled in 1897 by Max Littmann when the brewery moved to the suburbs. All of the rooms except the historic beer hall (“Schwemme”) were destroyed in the World War II bombings. The reopening of the Festival Hall in 1958 marked the end of the post-war restoration work.   read more…

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

27 August 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Universities, Colleges, Academies Reading Time:  7 minutes

Institute of Systematic Botany © Diego Delso/cc-by-sa-3.0

Institute of Systematic Botany © Diego Delso/cc-by-sa-3.0

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (also referred to as LMU or the University of Munich) is a public research university located in Munich, Germany. The University of Munich is Germany’s sixth-oldest university in continuous operation. Originally established in Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke Ludwig IX of Bavaria-Landshut, the university was moved in 1800 to Landshut by King Maximilian I of Bavaria when Ingolstadt was threatened by the French, before being relocated to its present-day location in Munich in 1826 by King Ludwig I of Bavaria. In 1802, the university was officially named Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität by King Maximilian I of Bavaria in his as well as the university’s original founder’s honour.   read more…

Ohel Jakob synagogue in Munich

25 June 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Jewish Center Munich: Ohel Jakob Synagogue, Jewish Musuem and Jewish Community Center (from left to right) © Schlaier

Jewish Center Munich: Ohel Jakob Synagogue, Jewish Musuem and Jewish Community Center (from left to right)
© Schlaier

Ohel Jakob (from Hebrew: “Jacob’s Tent”) is a synagogue in Munich in Germany. It was built between 2004 and 2006 as the new main synagogue for the Jewish community in Munich and is located at the Sankt-Jakobs-Platz. The synagogue was inaugurated on 9 November 2006 on the 68th anniversary of the Kristallnacht. The building is part of the new Jewish Center consisting of the synagogue, the Jewish Museum Munich and a community center.   read more…

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