Old Retired Guy Blog

July 4 - 8, 2010

The High Altar at
St. Michael's Church

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Munich (Page 2 of 6)

[Historical note:  When you travel around Europe and see all of the old structures, you almost forget that Europe was home to many wars including, of course, World Wars I and II.  As it turns out, many buildings were partially or totally destroyed during World War II.  Fortunately, much of the great art work and other precious items were hastily removed when the bombings began and the Allied invasion was imminent.  Therefore, though many buildings had to be restored, the items inside were saved.  The Nazis took many photographs of public buildings that were later used to help with the restoration.]

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After breakfast one morning we went to St. Peter's Church.  According to Wikipedia (and we know they don't lie), this is the oldest parish church in Munich and presumably the originating point for the whole city.  Our goal was to climb the tower.  I'd heard that there were 200 or so steps to the top so I felt I could make it.  Turns out there were 306.  I still made it.

   
Left: The long and winding stairway to the top of the tower.
Center: Being not overly fond of heights, I was glad to see the secure fence.
Right: The view of the Marienplatz and the New City Hall from St. Peter's tower.

We enjoyed a great 360 degree view of Munich.  We also had a nice spot to look over at the tower on the New City Hall and watch a performance of the glockenspiel.  This was considerably more interesting than the one in Rothenburg.  At least there were horses and people that twirled and circled around while the bells played.  I guess this was their version of MTV.

The inside of St Peter's Church is another amazing site.  It is incredibly ornate and filled with rows of large paintings along the side chapels as well as colorful and detailed paintings on the ceiling over the center aisle.  I got a sore neck just trying to take it all in.

If you like strange stuff, it's hard to top one of churches most popular relics, the skeleton of St. Mundita. Her two fake eyes stare out at you from the safety of her black-and-silver coffin.  It seemed kind of creepy to me, but at this time relics were more valuable than gold to the church and to noblemen alike. 

We certainly couldn't leave Munich without paying a visit to St. Michael's Church.  This is quite new, having been constructed in the late 1500s.

We couldn't see the outside of the church due to ongoing renovation (we encountered a lot of renovation during our three-week trip), but the inside was still worth a visit.  The large barrel-vaulted ceiling is second in size only to St. Peter's in Rome.

Having seen enough churches for the day we decided it was time to return to the secular.

'Munich'
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