Features
Hofbräuhaus
A Walk Along Prinzregenten-strasse
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A Walk Along Prinzregenten-strasse
This grand old boulevard runs east from the 17th-century Court Garden (Hofgarten), with its beautiful fountains and Renaissance
arcades. A startling modern addition, the steel-and-glass Staatskanzlei, houses the Bavarian State Chancellery. Prinzregentenstrasse
was laid out at the end of the 19th century and named for Prince Luitpold, who ruled as regent after his nephew, Ludwig II,
had been declared mad and deposed.
Today it takes visitors through one of the city's main museum and gallery quarters. Running past the southern end of the English
Garden, the boulevard first reaches the Haus der Kunst (House of Art), formerly a gallery of Nazi-approved art. It exhibits
the kind of work the Nazis had condemned. Next door is the Bavarian National Museum (Bayerisches Nationalmuseum), in a turn-of-the-20th-century
building incorporating many different architectural styles.
The next notable monument is the former Prussian embassy, now the Schack-Galerie, named for one of the 19th century's great
patrons of the arts, Count Schack. His own collection of paintings is represented by such artists as Franz von Lenbach and
Arnold Böcklin, who relied on the count for their livelihoods. The gallery is open Wed.-Sun. 10-5.
Prinzregentenstrasse continues across the Isar river and past the Angel of Peace (Friedensengel), a golden monument to peace,
erected to commemorate the end of the Franco-Prussian War. Nowadays citizens gather on New Year's Day to enjoy fireworks displays
and the view of Munich. Farther along, past the Europaplatz, is the Villa Stuck, a 19th century house built in a mix of styles
by artist Franz von Stuck. Von Stuck was part of the 1890s avant-garde school known as the Munich Secession, and his own work
is displayed inside (currently closed for restoration).
The boulevard continues east to the Prinzregententheater (PHONE: 089 21 85 02), which stages drama, concerts and musicals.
It was designed in 1900 to emulate the neoclassic Wagner Festival Theater in Bayreuth and sits on Prinzregentenplatz, where
there is a U-Bahn station; trains travel back to Odeonsplatz and the Hofgarten.
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