Top 10 facts about Munich

 

Hello Gentle Reader, yesterday our good friends Uwe and Tanya and their little boy Edgar stayed the night before they headed home to Munich. Last year Lena and I spent a few days with them in their home city and in honour of their visit I present to you some interesting facts about this fascinating city.

1. There are about 1.4 million people that live in Munich, or München, the third largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg.

 

2. It’s the capital and largest city of the German state of Bavaria, located in the southeast corner of Germany.

 

3. The name München comes from the Old High German Munichen, meaning “by the monks place”, as the city was founded by monks and was first mentioned in 1158.

4. Munich includes the rivers Isar and the Wurm.

 

5. Munich is known as the second largest publishing center worldwide, with about 250 publishing houses in the city. Well known writers from the area include Rainer Maria Rilke and Thomas Mann.

 

6. Includes museums such as the Deutsches Museum and art galleries including Alte Pinakothek, the Neue Pinakothek, the Pinakothek der Moderne, and the Museum Brandhorst.

 

7. In Munich you can visit the Viktualienmarkt, a daily food market and square with 140 stalls and shops for flowers, exotic fruit, game, poultry, spices, cheese, fish, and more.

 

8. Is home for the annual Oktoberfest, a world known beer festival going for two weeks at the end of September, ending on the first Sunday in October. There are about 20 major beer gardens in Munich.

 

9. Local beers include the Weissbier, Helles, Pils, Dunkles, Starkbier, and others.

10. For cuisine, the Weisswurste, a white sausage, is a Munich specialty, served with sweet mustard and freshly baked pretzels.

 

The city’s motto is “München mag Dich” (Munich likes you). Before 2006, it was “Weltstadt mit Herz” (Cosmopolitan city with a heart). Its native name, München, is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning “by the monks’ place”. The city’s name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city’s coat of arms. Black and gold—the colours of the Holy Roman Empire—have been the city’s official colours since the time of Ludwig the Bavarian.

Modern Munich is a financial and publishing hub, and a frequently top-ranked destination for migration and expatriate location in livability rankings. Munich achieved 7th place in frequently quoted Mercer livability rankings in 2010. For economic and social innovation, the city was ranked 15th globally out of 289 cities in 2010, and 5th in Germany by the 2thinknow Innovation Cities Index based on analysis of 162 indicators. In 2010, Monocle ranked Munich as the world’s most livable city.

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