The Propylaea () is a city gate in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

at the west side of Königsplatz.

History

The building, constructed in

Doric order The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...

, was completed by Leo von Klenze in 1862 and evokes the monumental entrance of the Propylaea for the Athenian Acropolis. The gate was created as a memorial for the accession to the throne of Otto of Greece, a son of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. As early as 1816, the Propylaea was in the early planning stages, but 30 years passed before the order was issued for its construction. Klenze painted a picture of the planned Propylaea, to promote the project. After King Ludwig I abdicated in 1848, the project was called into question, as, by that time, Munich no longer needed a city gate. Finally, Ludwig I financed the building from his private resources as a symbol of the friendship between

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

, as well as a monument to the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...

. The Propylaea was opened shortly before King Otto was forced to resign as the Bavarian king of Greece. While on a visit to the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

in 1862, a coup was launched in

, a provisional Government was set up and a National Convention summoned . Ambassadors of the Great Powers urged King Otto not to resist, and the king and queen took refuge on a British warship and returned to

. It can be said that the Propylaea is also a monument to the failed secundogeniture of the Wittelsbach.

Architecture

Each of the two towers of the gate is a powerful block with a large portal and an open room upstairs. The two portals of the towers were used for freight transport. The monumental gate in the middle of the Propylaea was reserved for riders and city cars. The ceilings of the towers were coffered. While the exterior shows Doric columns, inside the structure, Ionic columns support the Propylaea. The

floor plan In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan is a technical drawing to scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a structure. Dimensio ...

shows that the basement of the building could be traversed by stairs, platforms and passageways. The

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

s and

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

s celebrating the Bavarian prince and the

were created by

Ludwig Michael Schwanthaler Ludwig Michael Schwanthaler, later ennobled as Ritter von Schwanthaler (26 August 1802 – 14 November 1848), was a German sculpture, sculptor who taught at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. Biography Schwanthaler was born in Munich. His famil ...

Notes

{{coord, 48.1461, 11.5642, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Buildings and structures completed in 1862 Buildings and structures in Munich Neoclassical architecture in Munich Tourist attractions in Munich Greek Revival architecture in Germany Works about the Greek War of Independence Terminating vistas in Germany Leo von Klenze buildings 1862 establishments in Bavaria Gates of Munich Otto of Greece

History

Architecture

See also

Notes