10 Best Sights in Munich, Germany

With numerous Old Master paintings from the Netherlands, Italy, France, and Germany, the Alte Pinakothek holds one of the most significant art collections in the world. It was originally constructed by Leo von Klenze between 1826 and 1836 to exhibit the collection of 14th- to 18th-century works (started by Duke Wilhelm IV in the 16th century). The collection comprises more than 700 pieces, including masterpieces by Dürer, Titian, Rembrandt, Da Vinci, Rubens (the museum has one of the world's largest Rubens collections), and two celebrated Murillos. While the neighboring Neue Pinakothek is closed for renovations until 2027, a rotating selection from its fine collection of 19th-century art is on view in the lower gallery.

This seemingly endless green space blends into the open countryside at the north of the city. Today's park covers nearly 1,000 acres and has 78 km (48 miles) of paths and more than 100 bridges. The open, informal landscaping—reminiscent of the English-style rolling parklands of the 18th century—gave the park its name. It has a boating lake, four beer gardens (open seasonally), and a series of curious decorative and monumental constructions. In the center of the park's most popular beer garden is a Chinese pagoda, erected in 1790 (reconstructed after World War II). The Englischer Garten is a paradise for joggers, cyclists, musicians, soccer players, sunbathers, and, in winter, cross-country skiers. There's even surfing year-round, at two continuous man-made waves; the larger, Eisbachwelle, below the Eisbach bridge, draws crowds of onlookers. The park has semi-official areas for nude sunbathing—the Germans have a positively pagan attitude toward the sun—so in some areas don't be surprised to see naked bodies bordering the flower beds and paths.

This exquisite late-19th-century Florentine-style villa is the former home and studio of Franz von Lenbach (1836–1904), one of the most famous artists in Germany in the 1880s. He painted Germany's Chancellor Bismarck around 80 times. A renovation and new extension designed by renowned British architecture firm Foster+Partners was unveiled in 2013. Lenbachhaus is home to a stunning assemblage of art from the early-20th-century Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider) group: Kandinsky, Klee, Jawlensky, Macke, Marc, and Münter. Indeed, only New York's Guggenheim comes close to holding as many works from a group that was at the forefront in the development of abstract art. There are also vivid pieces from the New Objectivity movement, as well as a significant Joseph Beuys collection. Its growing contemporary art holdings include works by Olafur Eliasson, Dan Flavin, and Gerhard Richter.

This striking 130,000-square-foot glass-and-concrete complex by Stefan Braunfels is home to four outstanding museums under one cupola-topped roof: art, graphic art, architecture, and design, all from the 20th and 21st centuries. There's an outstanding collection of important modern and contemporary artwork, including an entire room devoted to the massive paintings of German postwar artist Georg Baselitz. The design museum is particularly popular, with permanent exhibitions in vehicle design, computer culture, and other design ideas. 

Siblings Hans and Sophie Scholl, fellow students Alexander Schmorell and Christian Probst, and Kurt Huber, professor of philosophy, were the key members of the Munich-based resistance movement against the Nazis in 1942–43 known as the Weisse Rose (White Rose). All were executed by guillotine. A small exhibition about their work is in the inner quad of the university, where the Scholls were caught distributing leaflets and denounced by the janitor. A memorial to White Rose is just outside the university.

Bavaria's greatest monarch, Ludwig I, was obsessed with antiquity, and the impressive buildings designed by Leo von Klenze that line this elegant square bear testament to that. Two temple-like structures face each other, the Staatliche Antikensammlungen (an acclaimed collection of Greek and Roman antiquities) and the Glyptothek (a fine collection of Greek and Roman statues). After WWII, Munich authorities restored the park and the broad green lawns in front of the museums attract students and tourists in the warmer months for concerts, films, and other events. This area became the national center of the Nazi Party in the 1930s and '40s. Destroyed in the war, the new Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism (NS-Dokumentationszentrum) opened in 2015 at Max-Mannheimer-Platz 1. On Arcisstrasse 12 is the Nazi-era building (now a music school) where in 1938 Britain's prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, infamously thought he had negotiated "peace in our time" with Hitler.

Planted halfway along the stark, neoclassical Ludwigstrasse is this superb twin-towered Byzantine- and Italian-influenced church, built between 1829 and 1838 at the behest of King Ludwig I to provide his newly completed suburb with a parish church. From across the road, look up to see the splendidly colored, 2009 mosaic on the church's roof. Inside, see one of the great modern frescoes, the Last Judgment by Peter von Cornelius, in the choir. At 60 feet by 37 feet, it's also one of the world's largest.

This eye-catching multicolored building is filled with videos, paintings, sculptures, and installations by artists such as Damien Hirst, Gerhard Richter, and Joseph Beuys, and is a real treat for contemporary art fans. It's also home to Europe's largest collection of works by Andy Warhol and features an extensive number of pieces by abstract artist Cy Twombly. 

Built to bookend the Feldherrnhalle and mark the end of Ludwigstrasse, Siegestor nowadays also marks the beginning of Leopoldstrasse. Unsurprisingly, it has Italian origins and was modeled on the Arch of Constantine in Rome. It was built (1843–52) to honor the achievements of the Bavarian army during the Wars of Liberation (1813–15) against Napoléon. It received heavy bomb damage in 1944, and at the end of the war Munich authorities decided it should be torn down for safety reasons. Major Eugene Keller, the head of the U.S. military government in the postwar city, intervened and saved it. Its postwar inscription on the side facing the inner city is best translated as: "Dedicated to victory, destroyed by war, a monument to peace."

Various Bavarian rulers were fascinated with the ancient world and in the 19th century accumulated huge quantities of significant Egyptian treasures, part of which make up the Staatliche Sammlung Ägyptischer Kunst. The collection is housed in an impressive modern building in Munich's superb Kunstareal.