Page:EB1911 - Volume 19.djvu/20

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6
MUNICH

single statues, contains a valuable series of sculptures, extending from Assyrian and Egyptian monuments down to works by Thorwaldsen and other modern masters. The celebrated Aeginetan marbles preserved here were found in the island of Aegina in 1811. Opposite the Glyptothek stands the exhibition building, in the Corinthian style, it was finished in 1845, and is used for periodic exhibitions of art. In addition to the museum of plaster casts, the Antiquarium (a collection of Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities under the roof of the new Pinakothek) and the Maillinger collection, connected with the historical museum, Munich also contains several private galleries. Foremost among these stand the Schack Gallery, bequeathed by the founder, Count Adolph von Schack, to the emperor William II. in 1894, rich in works by modern German masters, and the Lotzbeck collection of sculptures and paintings. Other structures and institutions are the new buildings of the art association; the academy of the plastic arts (1874–1885), in the Renaissance style; and the royal arsenal (Zeughaus) with the military museum. The Schwanthaler museum contains models of most of the great sculptor’s works.

The immense scientific collection in the Bavarian national museum, illustrative of the march of progress from the Roman period down to the present day, compares in completeness with the similar collections at South Kensington and the Musée de Cluny. The building which now houses this collection was erected in 1894–1900. On the walls is a series of well-executed frescoes of scenes from Bavarian history, occupying a space of 16,000 sq. ft. The ethnographical museum, the cabinet of coins, and the collections of fossils, minerals, and physical and optical instruments, are also worthy of mention. The art union, the oldest and most extensive in Germany, possesses a good collection of modern works. The chief place among the scientific institutions is due to the academy of science, founded in 1759. The royal library contains over 1,300,000 printed volumes and 30,000 manuscripts. The observatory is equipped with instruments by the celebrated Josef Fraunhofer.

At the head of the educational institutions of Munich stands the university, founded at Ingolstadt in 1472, removed to Landshut in 1800, and transferred thence to Munich in 1826. In addition to the four usual faculties there is a fifth—of political economy. In connexion with the university are medical and other schools, a priests’ seminary, and a library of 300,000 volumes. The polytechnic institute (Technische Hochschule) in 1899 acquired the privilege of conferring the degree of doctor of technical science. Munich contains several gymnasia or grammar-schools, a military academy, a veterinary college, an agricultural college, a school for architects and builders, and several other technical schools, and a conservatory of music. The general prison in the suburb of Au is considered a model of its kind; and there is also a large military prison. Among other public buildings, the crystal palace (Glas-palast), 765 ft. in length, erected for the great exhibition of 1854, is now used, as occasion requires, for temporary exhibitions. The Wittelsbach palace, built in 1843–1850, in the Early English Pointed style, is one of the residences of the royal family. Among the numerous monuments with which the squares and streets are adorned, the most important are the colossal statue of Maximilian II. in the Maximilianstrasse, the equestrian statues of Louis I. and the elector Maximilian I., the obelisk erected to the 30,000 Bavarians who perished in Napoleon’s expedition to Moscow, the Wittelsbach fountain (1895), the monument commemorative of the peace of 1871, and the marble statue of Justus Liebig, the chemist, set up in 1883.

The English garden (Englischer Garten), to the north-east of the town, is 600 acres in extent, and was laid out by Count Rumford in imitation of an English park. On the opposite bank of the Isar, above and below the Maximilianeum, extend the Gasteig promenades, commanding fine views of the town. To the south-west of the town is the Theresienwiese, a large common where the popular festival is celebrated in October. Here is situated the Ruhmeshalle or hall of fame, a Doric colonnade containing busts of eminent Bavarians. In front of it is a colossal bronze statue of Bavaria, 170 ft. high, designed by Schwanthaler. The botanical garden, with its large palm-house, the Hofgarten, surrounded with arcades containing frescoes of Greek landscapes by Rottmann, and the Maximilian park to the east of the Isar, complete the list of public parks.

The population of Munich in 1905 was 538,393. The permanent garrison numbers about 10,000 men. Of the population, 84% are Roman Catholic, 14% Protestants, and 2% Jews.

Munich is the seat of the archbishop of Munich-Freising and of the general Protestant consistory for Bavaria. About twenty newspapers are published here, including the Allgemeine Zeitung. Some of the festivals of the Roman Church are celebrated with considerable pomp; and the people also cling to various national fêtes, such as the Metzgersprung, the Schäfflertanz, and the great October festival.

Munich has long been celebrated for its artistic handicrafts, such as bronze-founding, glass-staining, silversmith’s work, and wood-carving, while the astronomical instruments of Fraunhofer and the mathematical instruments of Traugott Lieberecht von Ertel (1778–1858) are also widely known. Lithography, which was invented at Munich at the end of the 18th century, is extensively practised here. The other industrial products include wall-paper, railway plant, machinery, gloves and artificial flowers. The most characteristic industry, however, is brewing. Four important markets are held at Munich annually. The city is served by an extensive electric tramway system.

History.—The Villa Munichen or Forum ad monachos, so called from the monkish owners of the ground on which it lay, was first called into prominence by Duke Henry the Lion, who established a mint here in 1158, and made it the emporium for the salt coming from Hallein and Reichenhall. The Bavarian dukes of the Wittelsbach house occasionally resided at Munich, and in 1255 Duke Louis made it his capital, having previously surrounded it with walls and a moat. The town was almost entirely destroyed by fire in 1327, after which the emperor Louis the Bavarian, in recognition of the loyalty of the citizens, rebuilt it very much on the scale it retained down to the beginning of the 19th century. Among the succeeding rulers those who did most for the town in the erection of handsome buildings and the foundation of schools and scientific institutions were Albert V., William V., Maximilian I., Max Joseph and Charles Theodore. In 1632 Munich was occupied by Gustavus Adolphus, and in 1705, and again in 1742, it was in possession of the Austrians. In 1791 the fortifications were razed.

Munich’s importance in the history of art is entirely of modern growth, and may be dated from the acquisition of the Aeginetan marbles by Louis I., then crown prince, in 1812. Among the eminent artists of this period whose names are more or less identified with Munich were Leo von Klenze (1784–1864), Joseph Daniel Ohlmüller (1791–1839), Friedrich von Gärtner (1792–1847), and Georg Friedrich Ziebland (1800–1873), the architects; Peter von Cornelius (1783–1867), Wilhelm von Kaulbach (1804–1874), Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794–1872), and Karl Rottmann, the painters; and Ludwig von Schwanthaler, the sculptor. Munich is still the leading school of painting in Germany, but the romanticism of the earlier masters has been abandoned for drawing and colouring of a realistic character. Karl von Piloty (1826–1886) and Wilhelm Diez (1839–1907) long stood at the head of this school.

See Mittheilungen des statistischen Bureaus der Stadt München (vols. i.–v., 1875–1882); Söltl, München mit seinen Umgebungen (1854); Reber, Bautechnischer Führer durch die Stadt München (1876); Daniel, Handbuch der Geographie (new ed., 1895); Prantl, Geschichte der Ludwig-Maximilians Universität (Munich, 1872); Goering, 30 Jahre München (Munich, 1904); von Ammon, Die Gegend von München geologisch geschildert (Munich, 1895); Kronegg, Illustrierte Geschichte der Stadt München (Munich, 1903); the Jahrbuch für Münchener Geschichte, edited by Reinhardstöttner and Trautmann (Munich, 1887–1894); Aufleger and Trautmann, Alt-München in Bild und Wort (Munich, 1895); Rohmeder, München als Handelsstadt (Munich, 1905); H. Tinsch, Das Stadtrecht von München (Bamberg, 1891); F. Pecht, Geschichte der münchener Kunst im 19 Jahrhundert (Munich, 1888); and Trautwein, Führer durch München (20th ed., 1906). There is an English book on Munich by H. R. Wadleigh (1910).