Status: 15.01.2024, 10:09 a.m.
By: Lukas Schierlinger
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Protected as Munich monuments: The Berlin Bear on the A9 and the Braunau railway bridge. © imago/Ulrich Wagner
Monuments do not necessarily have to be spectacular buildings. There are also a few surprises on the long list for Munich.
Munich – It is no longer possible to trace which was the first monument in Munich. "The inventory lists have been revised and restructured again and again," explains Lea Kramer, press spokeswoman for the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments. Today, city walkers should take a close look. A total of 6843 architectural monuments (as of January 2024) are listed in the publicly accessible Bavarian Monument Atlas for Munich. In addition, there are 81 ensembles, "i.e. a majority of buildings in which the appearance in particular is worth protecting".
Surprising for many, it is not only buildings that can be monuments
It all started with King Ludwig I. In 1835, he commissioned a list of the monuments of his kingdom – including photographs. "From the very beginning, ecclesiastical buildings such as the Frauenkirche as well as royal buildings, such as the Residenz, or municipal buildings such as the Munich City Museum (Zeughaus on Jakobsplatz), were listed," reports press spokeswoman Kramer. In addition, there were remnants of the city fortifications (Isartor and Sendlinger Tor), but also private houses or sculptures such as the Marian column on Marienplatz.
"What many people may not know," says Kramer, "is that it's not just buildings that can be monuments. What one person perceives as a curious building may naturally be perceived by another as a formative part of the townscape and their surroundings."
Which is also listed as an architectural monument in Munich
- Sculptures (e.g. the Berlin Bear on the A9)
- Gardens and cemeteries (e.g. the cemetery at Perlacher Forst and Luitpoldpark)
- Fountains (such as the Goose Fountain at Winthirplatz)
- Bridges (e.g. the Braunau railway bridge)
- Industrial, transport and technical facilities (including the former tram building at Scheidplatz 1a, which now houses the restaurant "Zum Holzwurm")
Testimonies of Bavarian history that can be recorded using archaeological methods are protected as ground monuments. "These range from the remains of the stations of prehistoric poachers in the ground to the underground hidden structures of the perpetrator and victim sites of the Nazi era," explains press spokeswoman Kramer. Some mobile art and cultural monuments are defined as movable monuments: among others, archive holdings, equipment such as historical furniture, means of transport such as locomotives or airplanes, as well as some coin hoards and grave inventories.
The characteristics of a monument are defined in Article 1 of the Bavarian Monument Protection Act:
'Monuments are man-made objects or parts thereof from the past, the preservation of which is in the interest of the general public because of their historical, artistic, urban, scientific or ethnographic significance.' The Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments checks whether the criteria are met. If this is the case, the object will be entered in the list of monuments. In 2023, 36 "new entrants" were admitted. Among other things, the former Pfanni factory at Ostbahnhof. "Monuments do not necessarily have to be spectacular buildings, because the aim of the Monument Protection Act is to present the historical heritage in all its diversity," clarifies the press spokeswoman of the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments.
The Bavarian Monument Protection Act of 1973 legally regulated the work of the state monument preservation in Bavaria. It demands, among other things, the maintenance of a list of monuments that should be publicly accessible. The Bavarian Monument Atlas is available online.
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"Monument protection does not mean that a building can no longer be changed," explains press spokeswoman Kramer. It is even desirable that architectural monuments are used. For example, as a residential, commercial or cultural space. Of course, "the historical features of the building should be preserved and the original purpose should be taken into account."
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