The devil is not really a friend of the city of Munich, several times he struck against Munich churches. Yet, they defy the diabolic power. Around 40 churches and a number of order members make up the city’s reputation as “Germany’s Rome”.

The first settlers were monks. Who wanted to visit them had to travel to Petersbergl. There stood a chapel, to be named St. Peter later on, the city’s oldest parish church (11th century). Gothic, baroque and rococo elements mark the interior.

The Welsh caps are the city’s distinctive sights of the Gothic Frauenkirche. The dome, one of Europe’s largest hall churches, was built within only 20 years (1468–1488). Spectacular, when you know that the average building time of a cathedral amounted to centuries. The building master is said to have made a pact with the devil: If he builds a church without a window, the devil takes care of the completion on schedule. The building master was artful and put the pillars in the windows’ axes. The fooled devil furiously stomped his foot into the church floor. The diabolic imprint with the skid can be seen up to now.

An oasis of tranquility can be found in hectic Neuhauser Straße at Jesuitenkirche St. Michael. Stylewise it’s between Renaissance and baroque. In the gable of the impressive facade Jesus Christ is enthroned, in the ground floor archangel Michael, diverse rulers in between and in the prince’s crypt Ludwig II., the fairy tale king, is at rest next to 40 Wittelsbacher.

A baroque gem is the Asamkirche on Sendlingerstraße, it is a real monument of the Asam brothers. An impressive building is the baroque Theatinerkirche at Odeonsplatz, a square which is rather stinted otherwise. It owes its origins to a vow, which Henriette von Savoyen, the wife of elector Ferdinand Maria, made because of the longed for birth of the heir to the throne Max Emanuel in 1662.

A few steps away next to the state library Friedrich Gärtner constructed Ludwigskirche in 1844. Well-worth seeing is the „Jüngste Gericht“ by Peter Cornelius, the world’s second largest altar fresco. Herz-Jesu-church in Neuhausen is an example of the art of contemporary church building. The architects’ (Allmann, Sattler und Wappner) guideline was to bring light and transparency into the Lord’s house which has been achieved with over 2000 wooden lamellas.

Also worth a trip is the St. Michael church in the district Berg am Laim – a main piece of Southern German rococo, equipped by artists like Ignaz Günther and Johann Baptist Zimmermann.

Fortunately Catholic Munich has a heart for people of different faith. The Protestant St. Lukas church at Mariannenplatz was only built at the end of the 19th century in Roman and early Gothic Style. Salvator church experienced a changeful fate. In 1803 it was secularized, in 1806 handed over to the Munich Protestants and since 1829 it is part of Greek Orthodox Community. Since March 2007 the main synagogue is back to the city centre, at Jakobsplatz. The mosque in Freimann is far less centrally located.

by Karin Nagl