Navigation:
- Ahnengalerie
- Antiquarium
- Destruction &
Reconstruction - Hofgartenzimmer /
Charlottenzimmer - Hofkapelle
- Kaisersaal /
Vierschimmelsaal - Kurfürstenzimmer
- Königsbau
- Nibelungensäle
- Päpstliche Zimmer
- Reiche Kapelle
- Reiche Zimmer
- Schwarzer Saal
- Special collections
- Steinzimmer
- Trierzimmer
Main information:
Residenz Museum
Königsbau (King's Tract)
When Elector Maximilian Joseph IV became the first king of Bavaria in 1806 he lacked a suitably imposing royal residence. He therefore remodelled and refurbished some suites of rooms in the Residenz, but it was his son, King Ludwig I, who added a new building, the Königsbau, after ascending the throne in 1825. Ludwig's love of Italy and the Renaissance determined the style of the extension, notably the façade on Max-Joseph-Platz, which the architect Leo von Klenze designed using elements derived from the Palazzo Pitti and the Palazzo Rucellai in Florence. The foundation stone of the Königsbau was laid in 1826 and work was completed in 1835.
Painting of King Ludwig I,
Joseph Stieler, 1828
Ludwig and his wife, Therese, lived on the main floor of the Königsbau. Ludwig wanted the royal apartments to face the town so that they would be in full view of the people. This was a novelty and, as an early riser, he noted proudly: "My light is always the first to be lit. When I look out onto Max-Joseph-Platz in the morning it takes a while before I see the lights being lit one by one in the houses of my subjects." During his lifetime the king permitted the Königsbau to be visited by appointment when the royal couple was not in residence, a gesture aimed at bringing the monarchy closer to the people.
Ludwig decided the subjects of the paintings in the rooms. His own apartments are decorated with themes taken from Ancient Greek poetry, while his wife's contain episodes from poems by great German authors.
Throne Room
Clock with an equestrian
figure, from Queen Therese's
Salon de Service
The Queen's Salon
The architect of the Königsbau, Leo von Klenze, was the leading exponent of neoclassicism in Munich. He designed every detail of the royal apartments, including the walls and the furniture, in a unified style. All the furniture was made in 1834-35 by local cabinetmakers and sculptors.
The Königsbau was severely damaged in 1944, but by 1980 the furnishings and decoration had been reconstructed on the basis of an inventory dating from 1835, the year before the original building was finished. Munich thus regained a unique ensemble of rooms in the late neoclassical style.
Due to restoration works the Königsbau can not be visited at the moment.
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