Visiting the Munich Residenz – Palace of the Bavarian rulers

The Residenz in Munich is the palace at the heart of the city, formerly home to the Bavarian kings, queens,electors and the ruling Wittelsbach dynasty. Large parts of the palace were destroyed in World War II but were restored after the war. We visited Munich Residenz in on a rainy afternoon and decided to get out of the damp and take a look around.

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Munich Residenz tickets

Through the archway is the inner courtyard and ticket office, where we picked up an audio-guide that can be used for both the Treasury and the main palace itself. We decided to see the Treasury or Schatzkammer first as it was the shorter of the two, taking about 30 mins to look around. Coats and larger bags may be left in the free cloakroom since nothing larger than a handbag is allowed around the palace, which may cause problems if you have a lot of camera equipment to carry.

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The Munich Residenz Treasury

The Treasury houses the crown jewels of Bavaria, from crowns, swords and tiaras, to altar pieces, decorative plates and tableware. There was everything a royal family or court could want to impress and display their wealth. The audio-guide did a good job at explaining it all.

The main palace of the Residenz in Munich

Next we walked around the palace itself which takes over an hour. There are some rooms from the Renaissance period. For example, the magnificent Antiquarium, a hall with a decorative vaulted ceiling that was used for banquets and receiving guests.

An interesting shell grotto was positioned to one side of an inner courtyard. Most of the rooms are in the decorative Rococo style from the 18th century. There was plenty of damask, gilding and painted ceilings, with furniture, portraits and porcelain of the period on display.

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With hardly any visitors, we practically had the place to ourselves and it felt a little sterile and empty. The palace is also rather large and after wandering from one room to another, I started to get a bit weary. Gorgeous rococo room followed gorgeous rococo room. It made me a bit desperate to be let out from the gilded cage.

I thought about the stately homes and palaces in England, where so much effort is put into bringing the experience to life. There’s seasonal events and opening up the domestic areas such as the kitchens. Actors dress in period costume, and special activities are arranged for children.

There just seemed to be too much splendour and not enough life in the Residenz. It was was difficult to imagine that it was once full of people, activity and the excitement of the Bavarian court.

A break for Kaffe and Kuchen

After we’d spent a couple of hours in the Residenz, we were ready to sit down and found a rather nice coffee shop just round the corner. We relaxed for an hour with our Kaffee und Kuchen, and admired all the Christmas chocolates, stollen and iced gingerbread on sale in the shop.

After that we took a look at the famous Cuvilliés Court Theatre, also created in the 1750s. This was also included in the ticket and was tucked away in the courtyards of the Residenz. The best thing about tour, was that we discovered a lovely, atmospheric Christmas market in the courtyard of the Residenz. We decided to go back to this the next day.

If you love beautiful palaces, portraits and decoration, you’ll enjoy seeing the Residenz, but it did feel more of a museum than a former home of kings. Perhaps it would have more atmosphere in the summer that it did on a quiet winter’s afternoon.

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Munich Resources

We stayed in Munich at Hotel Falkenturm, a comfortable, 2 star hotel which is well-located for sightseeing. Read my review of Hotel Falkenturm here

Website of the Munich Residenz

Official Munich Tourism Website

The guidebook I used on this trip was the pocket sized Dorling Kindersley, Eyewitness Top 10 guide to Munich, which I found ideal for sightseeing if you are there for a short time.

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com

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