Photo: Avda, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Shows ballet and opera performances almost every night.
The National Theatre on Max-Joseph-Platz in Munich, Germany, is a historic opera house, home of the Bavarian State Opera, Bavarian State Orchestra and the Bavarian State Ballet.
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Royal Palace and seat of government of the Wittelsbach dynasty, bombed in wartime but rebuilt. The two principal areas are the Treasury and the Museum (separate admission €9 each). The Treasury (Schatzkammer) has a huge collection of ecclesiastical and secular bling, such as the royal crowns, orb and sceptre. In the Museum, the Antiquarium is the barrel-vaulted banqueting hall. The Papal Rooms accommodated Pius VI on his visit to Munich and are Baroque. The Ancestral Gallery, Porcelain Cabinet and Ornate Rooms are Rococo. The neo-classical Königsbau, added in the 19th century, houses the Charlotte Rooms, the royal apartments and the Halls of Battles. There's an additional charge for the Cuvilliés Theatre.
Modern art museum, no permanent collection but rotating exhibitions. It's funded by HypoVereinsbank.
Avant garde theatre, often with surprising modern interpretations of the classics. Some performances are in English, and all have English subtitles.
Church of Our Lady
This huge church defines the Munich skyline with its twin onion-domed towers, a shade over 98 m tall - the money ran out for the planned spires. It's the Roman Catholic cathedral, but always known locally as Frauenkirche. It was built from 1469 to 1488 in brick because of a lack of suitable local stone; the towers were only completed in 1525, cleverly anticipating a law of 2004 that no structure within Altstadt may exceed 99 m in height. Although its style is Gothic, it's fairly simple outside and in, without the usual ornamentation of that style. Eleven kings or archdukes of Bavaria are interred here. The church was bombed in wartime and full restoration took until 1994. Its three naves are of equal height, creating a single hall soaring so high that you can't see the windows, and light floods in from no visible source. This is in legend is the feature that caused the devil to stamp in pique, leaving a black footprint (Teufelstritt) within a yellow flagstone just inside the entrance. You can climb the south tower.
Staatskanzlei
This fills the east side of Hofgarten, housing the Bavarian Minister (president of the Lande government) and his / her cabinet meetings. The central dome was built in 1879 to house the Royal Bavarian Army Museum. It was bombed out in World War II and only restored in the 1980s. The modern side wings were built 1989-93. In front of the building is a memorial to Munich citizens who died in wartime, and a statue of Duke Otto I, 12th century founder of the Bavarian royal dynasty. Admission to the Chancellery is only on business but their website gives an online tour.
History of the festival, in a townhouse of 1340. The "Himmelsleiter" is its characteristic early staircase, a straight flight with no corners.