Bayerisches Nationalmuseum

Description

In Munich's historic urban fabric, the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum presents art and cultural-historical collections across some 13,000 m², focusing particularly on South German and European sculpture and the applied arts; these collections were originally intended, alongside education, to serve training in the crafts.

The institution moved its location from the representative forum of Maximilianstraße to the building on Prinzregentenstraße that now defines it, where it has been housed since 1900 in an ensemble of central building sections. The complex was conceived so that different art styles and epochs come into their own in separate sequences of rooms; façade and interior designs are oriented toward historical styles without asserting excessive monumentality.

The founding goes back to an initiative of King Maximilian II in the 19th century; the name Bayerisches Nationalmuseum was established by him. From the initial Wittelsbach holdings a broadly based collection developed over the decades, continuously expanded through systematic purchases, donations and transfers. War damage in the Second World War could largely be remedied as a result of early removals and subsequent restoration work. In the second half of the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st century, renovations followed, along with extensions for workshops and conservation studios and the gradual return of large groups of holdings to freshly refurbished exhibition rooms.

The permanent exhibition proceeds chronologically from the beginnings of the Middle Ages to Art Nouveau. On the main floor are paintings, wood sculptures, bronzes, medieval ivories, tapestries, furniture, weapons and applied arts. Outstanding are extensive group works by the carvers Hans Multscher, Tilman Riemenschneider and Hans Leinberger. Among the treasures is the Bamberg Antependium (around 1300). The weapons collection documents holdings from formerly princely armouries. The upper floor and the western wing present Classicism, 19th-century art and Art Nouveau, as well as collections of porcelain, musical instruments and toys; here is also the large-scale Hildesheim silver service of the 18th century. In the basement, folklife rooms with farmers' parlours and the internationally significant nativity scene collection round out the tour.

The museum also operates branch museums distributed across Bavaria that maintain regional focuses and use historic buildings for museum purposes.