MUNICH, mienik (Ge•. Munchen). The capital of Bavaria. and the third largest city in Germany, situated at an elevation of 1700 feet, mostly on the left hank of the Isar, on the south ern border of a partly SWanipy and partly fertile forested plateau, 296 miles by rail south of Leip zig (Map: Germany, D 4) ; latitude 0' N., longitmle' 11 ° 35' E. The city is only about 25 miles north of the Bavarian Alps, and is subject to a somewhat raw climate characterized by abrupt changes of temperature, which are at times trying. Mean annual temperature, F.
:Munich is comparatively modern. It is pro gressive and handsomely equipped with the latest municipal improvements, having, in fact, been mostly rebuilt since about 1830. It owes its artistic and regal appearance to the loving Louis 1. and his successors. The very wide avenues and the many buildings constructed in all the leading styles of architecture lend great dignity to the nietropolis. The streets are generally regular, and the city is lavishly adorned by numerous squares and pleasure parks and gardens. The largest park is the beautiful Eng lish Garden. It. contains over 500 acres, watered by branehes of the Isar and adorned with small temples, towers. etc. Magnificent thoroughfares are the Maximilianstrasse, lined by public build ings, and the Prinzregentenstrasse, both leading across the river to the Maximilian pleasure grounds on the opposite side. The Ludwigstrasse, stretching northward from the royal palace, is also a splendid street, flanked with impressive Ilena issa nee edi fives.
The Alax-Joseph-Platz, together with the Marienplatz, represents the centre of life in Munich. The former effilnects the old and new sections, and is embellished by huge bronze statue of King Max Joseph. The Atte Residenz—one of the three pants of the royal palace—extends hen' along the north side of the square and has in the rear the Court gardens, with their open arcades and frescoes. This struc ture dates from 1506 and contains four courts, but is of little architectural worth. Its ments, however, are a source of great interest to sightseers, !wing luxuriously furnished in the seventeenth century style and rich in historical associations. The throne room was at one time
occupied by Napoleon. The royal chapel and the treasury possess numerous objects of in trinsic and historic value.
The other two parts of the palace are the tine Festsaalbau and the liiinigsbau. The latter, fin ished in 1833, and fashioned after the Pitti l'alace, is notable for its splendid Nibelungen frescoes 1p• Schnorr ( 1861) The former is a handsome edifice, completed in 1842 in the late Italian Renaissance. It is enriched with ionic pillars and with allegorical figures of the Bava rian provinces. Several apartments contain Ilil frescoes from the Odyssey. Beauti ful salons are also the throne room, with striking bronze statues by `chcanthalor; the Hapsburg room. with paintings; the Barbarossa hall, with reliefs by and the Hall of Charle magne, containing ambitious decorations descrip tive of scenes from the Emperor's life. Rut the hest known of these apartments are those con taining Stieler's thirty-six portraits of beautiful women, painted from various types of Bavaria's fairest womanhood.
Connected with these royal edifices are the great Hof and National Theater dating from 1823, with an attractive portico borne by Corin thian columns, and containing seats for 2200 per sons, and the artistic and impressive Court chapel—a structure dating from 1837, in the Byzantine-Romant`sfille. and having sumptuous decorations. Still another feature in connection with this royal residence are the coach houses and harness rooms. with a collection of historic carriages, sleighs, and sledges. Adjacent also are a valuable ethnographical museum, an Art Union, with works of living artists, and an instructive museum of plaster casts. Other palaces in the city are the palace of Prince Charles, the palace of Prince Regent. ladtpold, the palace of Duke Max, with good decorations, and the royal Wit telsbach palace, an artistic red structure begun in 1843.