Königsplatz (, ''King's Square'') is a square in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, Germany. Built in the style of European

Neoclassicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative arts, decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. ...

in the 19th century, it displays the Propyläen Gate and, facing each other, the Glyptothek (archeological museum) and the

Staatliche Antikensammlungen The Staatliche Antikensammlungen (, ''State Collections of Antiquities'') is a museum in Munich's Kunstareal holding Bavaria's collections of antiquities from Greece, Etruria and Rome, though the sculpture collection is located in the opposite G ...

(art museum). The area around Königsplatz is home to the

Kunstareal The Kunstareal (, "art district") is a museum quarter in the city centre of Munich, Germany. Area of arts It consists of the three "Pinakotheken" galleries (Alte Pinakothek, Neue Pinakothek and Pinakothek der Moderne), the Glyptothek, the Staa ...

, Munich's gallery and museum quarter.

Architecture

The square was designed as part of the representative boulevard Brienner Straße by Karl von Fischer working for Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and laid out by

Leo von Klenze Leo von Klenze (Franz Karl Leopold von Klenze; 29 February 1784, Buchladen (Bockelah / Bocla) near Schladen – 26 January 1864, Munich) was a German neoclassicist architect, painter and writer. Court architect of Bavarian King Ludwig I, Le ...

. Fischer modeled the Königsplatz on the

Acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens, ...

in Athens. The concept was classical rigor embedded in living green, and so an expression of urban ideas of Ludwig I. who wanted to see cultural life, civic ideals, Catholic Christianity, royal administration and the military all together and embedded in green. Klenze framed the square with the

Glyptothek The Glyptothek () is a museum in Munich, Germany, which was commissioned by the Bavarian King Ludwig I to house his collection of Greek and Roman sculptures (hence γλυπτο- ''glypto-'' "sculpture", from the Greek verb γλύφειν ''glyp ...

and the

Propylaea In ancient Greek architecture, a propylaea, propylea or propylaia (; Greek: προπύλαια) is a monumental gateway. They are seen as a partition, specifically for separating the secular and religious pieces of a city. The prototypical Gree ...

(created as memorial for the accession of

Otto of Greece Otto (, ; 1 June 181526 July 1867) was a Bavarian prince who ruled as King of Greece from the establishment of the monarchy on 27 May 1832, under the Convention of London, until he was deposed on 23 October 1862. The second son of King Ludw ...

). The

was erected by Georg Friedrich Ziebland, on its back

St. Boniface's Abbey St. Boniface's Abbey (german: Abtei St. Bonifaz) is a Benedictine monastery in Maxvorstadt, Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It was founded in 1835 by King Ludwig I of Bavaria, as a part of his efforts to reanimate the country's spiritual life by the r ...

is situated. The Glyptothek was built from 1816, the Propylaea were only completed in 1862. The

Lenbachhaus The Lenbachhaus () is a building housing an art museum in Munich's ''Kunstareal''. The building The Lenbachhaus was built as a Florentine-style villa for the painter Franz von Lenbach between 1887 and 1891 by Gabriel von Seidl and was expand ...

is situated at the north-west side of the square.

Königsplatz during the Third Reich

As a beautiful and monumental place, the Königplatz was used during the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

as a square for the Nazi Party's mass rallies. The Brown House, the national headquarters of the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported th ...

in Germany was located at 45 Brienner Straße close to the square. Two Honor Temples (''

Ehrentempel The Honor Temples (german: Ehrentempel) were two structures in Munich, erected by the Nazis in 1935, housing the sarcophagi of the sixteen members of the Party who had been killed in the failed Beer Hall Putsch (the Blutzeugen, "blood witnesses ...

'') were erected at the east side of the Königsplatz in severe neo-Greek style to echo the architecture of the older buildings; they "enshrined" the remains of the sixteen Nazis killed in the 1923

Beer Hall Putsch The Beer Hall Putsch, also known as the Munich Putsch,Dan Moorhouse, ed schoolshistory.org.uk, accessed 2008-05-31.Known in German as the or was a failed coup d'état by Nazi Party ( or NSDAP) leader Adolf Hitler, Erich Ludendorff and oth ...

, who were worshipped by Nazis as martyrs. Both temples were demolished by the US Army in 1947, although their platforms remain to this day. Two buildings of the Nazi party constructed by

Paul Troost Paul Ludwig Troost (17 August 1878 – 21 January 1934) was a German architect. A favourite master builder of Adolf Hitler from 1930, his Neoclassical designs for the '' Führerbau'' and the ''Haus der Kunst'' in Munich influenced the style of N ...

next to the temples still exist; in the one north of Brienner Strasse, the '' Führerbau'', the

Munich Agreement The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. It provided "cession to Germa ...

was signed in 1938. Today it is a school for music and theatre called the

Hochschule für Musik und Theater München The University of Music and Performing Arts Munich (german: Hochschule für Musik und Theater München), also known as the Munich Conservatory, is a performing arts conservatory in Munich, Germany. The main building it currently occupies is ...

. The other one south of said Boulevard nowadays houses a couple of minor museal institutions within the wider context of the Kunstareal.

Nazi book burnings The Nazi book burnings were a campaign conducted by the German Student Union (, ''DSt'') to ceremonially burn books in Nazi Germany and Austria in the 1930s. The books targeted for burning were those viewed as being subversive or as representin ...

occurred at Königsplatz in 1933. ''The March to the Führer'' ('' Der Marsch zum Führer'') is a Nazi propaganda film released in 1940. It depicts the nationwide march of

Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

and features the Königsplatz. After the war the Königsplatz was restored to its pre-war appearance.

Transportation

The Königsplatz is served by a

U-Bahn Rapid transit in Germany consists of four U-Bahn systems and fourteen S-Bahn systems. The U-Bahn commonly understood to stand for Untergrundbahn (''underground railway'') are conventional rapid transit systems that run mostly underground, while ...

station of the same name.

Sport

During the 2022 European Championships the

Sports Climbing Sport climbing (or Bolted climbing) is a form of rock climbing that relies on permanent anchors (or bolts), permanently fixed into the rock for climber protection, in which a rope that is attached to the climber is clipped into the anchors to ...

and

Beach Volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...

events were held at Königsplatz

References

External links