MUNICH is called “Athens on the River Isar”, our tour guide told us, although she didn’t say by whom.

Munich’s museums in top gear
We were in Konigsplatz, facing a Doric-columned gateway built in 1846, a replica of the entry portal to the Acropolis. On either side of us were Grecian temples also dating from the 1800s, each a museum. To the north side of the square stood the Gypothek, with an impressive assemblage of Greek and Roman sculptures; to the south side of the square stood the building of the State Collection of Greek and Roman Antiquities, housing an outstanding collection of Greek ceramics and a welter of other treasures.

The Greek-style ensemble was the brainchild of King Ludwig the First, who kicked off the enterprise in 1816. The square was only completed in 1862, 14 years after Ludwig abdicated. Later, Konigsplatz literally became Hitler’s stomping grounds, the lawn replaced by granite slabs to make a parade ground for his troops.

The only other Grecian aspect I noted in Munich was that the city's prestigious art galleries were called Pinakotheks, after “the pinakotheke” picture gallery in a wing of the Acropolis.

There are now three Pinakotheks in Munich: the Pinakotech der Moderne, Munich’s newest museum, opened in September of last year, joining the world-famous Alte Pinakothek and the Neue Pinakothek to form a remarkable trio of museums. Together they cover the history of art from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the 21st century.

The light, rational building of the Pinakothek der Moderne, designed by Stephan Braunfels, stands beside the celebrated Alte Pinakothek and the Neue Pinakothek. The new museum covers 12,000 square metres of exhibition space putting it on a scale with the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Tate Modern in London.
Though the 20th century only came to an end three years ago, the visual arts of the period can already be seen as having a unique shape and recognisable characteristics at the Pinakothek der Moderne.

The museum houses four major 20th century collections - art, graphics, architecture and design - in an interconnected complex. It makes it as easy to perceive the 20th century as a cultural entity as if it were a precious stone held in your hand.
The art collection of the Pinakothek der Moderne focuses on key works of classical modernists, with Picasso’s 1903 portrait of Madame Sorel looking as serene and sure as an Old Master. Subsequent generations of artists are well represented with works by Bacon, de Kooning, Warhol and others up to and including Pipilotti Rist’s video installations and Jeff Wall’s illuminated photographs.

The graphics museum highlights works of major figures from modernism to the present, drawing from a rich and extensive archive.
The museum’s architecture collection presents a virtual promenade through the built icons of the 20th century through models and photographs. Unfortunately for me, the explanatory text was only in German, but I was told this may change as there had been many complaints about it.

There could be no complaints at all concerning the design segment of the Pinakothek der Moderne. For the first time in its 75 year history, Die Neue Sammlung – the world’s oldest design museum – can exhibit a significant number of its 60,000 objects in a coherent setting.

A rollicking series of displays from Art Deco prototype furniture to running shoes and mobile phones, to a faithful reconstruction of a 1960s living room, made the design history of the 20th century seem surprisingly uplifting.
Pinakothek der Moderne, Barer Strasse 40. Open Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday from 10am to 5pm; open Thursday and Friday from 10am to 8pm. Closed on Monday.
Website: www.pinakothek-der-moderne.de

Bavarian beauties
One of the most popular exhibitions in Die Neue Sammlung is dedicated to the engineering and body sculpture of automotive design. If this takes your fancy, you can expand on the theme at the futuristic looking Bavarian Motor Works museum. A quarter of a million visitors yearly visit what looks like a flying saucer moored next to the BMW head office.

Before BMW came to mean cars, it meant airplane engines – hence the propeller logo in the blue and white flag of Bavaria. Later, BMW meant motorcycles, of course.
Today, BMW is the only European manufacturer of airplane engines, motorcycles and motor cars. In the museum, you’ll follow BMW’s development through exhibits ranging from the 1898 Warburg motor car to the cockpit of the car of the future, with excursions into airplanes and motorcycles. And it's an easy path to follow: the museum is designed as a spiral ramp.

If you'd like to tour the adjacent BMW factory where computers and robots build cars for people, you must book several months in advance. Last minute visitors are rarely accommodated, but you could try your luck at the museum’s reception desk.

BMW Museum, Petuelring 130. Telephone +49 893 822 3306.
Open daily, including Sunday, from 9am to 5pm.
Last admission at 4pm.

Kings of the road
The Deutsches Museum’s extraordinary collection of 55 automobiles, ranging from the Carl Benz three-wheeler of 1886 to the glamourous autos of the 50s and 60s, has a brand new home.
From May 2003, the museum’s collection can be admired in what was once the Theresienhohe Exhibition Centre. The move, a highlight of the museum’s 100th birthday celebration, makes it possible to display the famous collection in all its glory. The pleasures and tribulations of mobility is the theme of the opening exhibition, but it will probably be the pleasure you remember.

Deutsches Museum, Verkehrszentrum, Theresienhohe 14a.
Open daily from 9am to 5pm, except January 1, Shrove Tuesday,
Good Friday, May 1, November 1 and December 24, 25, and 31.

Bavaria’s Brew
Munich is surely the world capital of beer. A celebration of the brew is seldom off the city’s calendar. The year’s round begins with "Fastbock", brewed more or less at the time of the Oktoberfest. Then comes the opening of the "strong beer" season in March – and very strong it is, served in brandy snifters.

Following the strong beer, bock beer returns again as "May Bock". Then there’s the summer-long beer garden season during which approximately 30 beer gardens serve the traditional one litre "mass" of beer under the cooling shade of chestnut trees.

This brings us back to the Oktoberfest, terminating on Sunday of the first weekend in October, but beginning, curiously enough, 16 days earlier, in the middle of September. During these weeks, millions of visitors converge on Munich to drink millions of litres of beer in a city exuberant with the fun of the fair.

Munich has always taken beer seriously. The Munich Beer Regulations of 1487 are the oldest written food laws in the world. The laws stipulated that beer can only be brewed using barley, hops and water. Munich’s hard water is credited for giving local beer its distinctive taste.

On Brewer’s Day, in a tradition dating back to the Middle Ages, Munich brewers still solemnly swear an oath to uphold the purity requirements. Brewers Day is observed in even numbered years along with the Town Foundation Festival in mid-June and is celebrated with costumed pageants, brass bands and a parade of horse-drawn brewery coaches.

At the beginning of the 20th century, 25 breweries remained in Munich. The exigencies of two world wars and market-driven mergers have since whittled the number of world-famous brands to six: Augustiner, Hacker-Pschorr, Hofbrauhaus, Lowenbrau, Paulaner and Spaten-Franziskaner.

Some smaller Munich breweries still survive and have their loyal customers. One of them is the tiny Unionsbrauerei, where the brew master, Herr Frank, offers visitors a free tour as interesting as it short. It takes about 15 minutes but you should prolong the experience with a glass of Unionsbrau and a "brotzeit" – a snack, usually of bread with ham or cheese - to go with it.

The brewery is in the cellar of an old, plain-faced house at Einsteinstrasse 42. A shiny copper vat dominates the basement drinking room in which long, bare wooden tables stretch from one end to the other.

Next to the big-bellied vat is a glass-fronted storeroom where bags of barley slouch until needed. As for the hops, Herr Frank goes to Lake Constance yearly to select them ensuring they are in perfect condition for his brew.

Garlands of hops decorate the archways leading into small side rooms in one of which are stored the oak barrels full of beer. About 75% of this beer will be served in the cellar, with the rest of the casks delivered upstairs to the restaurant or, in season, to the beer garden out back. There is no provision for selling Unionsbrau elsewhere.

The brewing process takes from seven to eight hours to complete and at the Unionsbrauerei it is all done to the brew master_s own taste. No computer tells Herr Frank how much of each ingredient to use or when to turn off the machinery. It’s a noisy, delicate process undertaken twice weekly, producing 1,000 litres of Unionsbrau each time.

Behind the little counter in the cellar are shelves holding glass beer mugs with pewter lids, each with a name engraved on it. These are the drinking mugs of the regular customers. You can buy your own glass tankard if you like, complete with the Unionsbrau logo, but without a lid, for about ¤4. The logo is of a fresh-faced young woman in a Bavarian costume. Her features are ‘modernised’ from time to time; the current model for the logo is a daughter of one of the directors.

Give the brewery two days notice of your intended visit.
Tel: +49(0) 894 77 677 or Fax: +49(0) 894 705 848. Free Admission.

For a tour of one of Munich’s large breweries,
try Spaten-Franziskaner at Marsstrasse 46-48.
Tel: +49(0) 895 1220 or Fax: +49(0) 895 122 25 20.
It conducts tours in German, English, French, Spanish and Italian.
Admission charge.

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