Munich concentrates seven centuries of collecting into the Kunstareal's twenty museums, then spends its evenings in gilded court theatres. This route follows Rubens to Richter, Wagner premieres to Kandinsky's Schwabing studio, and ends where the city's living scene works.
Leo von Klenze's 1836 gallery holds the Wittelsbach Old Masters: the world's largest Rubens collection including the 6-metre Great Last Judgement, Dürer's Four Apostles and Altdorfer's Battle of Alexander. Open Tue–Sun 10:00–18:00, Tuesdays until 20:30.
Franz von Lenbach's Florentine-style villa houses the definitive Blauer Reiter collection — 1,000 works donated by Gabriele Münter in 1957, including Kandinsky's pre-abstract Murnau canvases and Marc's Blue Horse I. Norman Foster's golden wing added 2013.
Ludwig I's 1816 Doric square remains Europe's purest neoclassical ensemble. The Glyptothek's antique sculpture includes the Barberini Faun and the Aegina Temple pediments; Josef Wiedemann's 1972 restoration left the war-stripped brick vaults raw.
The Asam brothers built this 22-metre-wide church in 1746 beside their own house as a private chapel, funding every detail themselves. Late Bavarian Rococo at maximum density — false marble, hidden windows and a ceiling fresco lit from concealed sources.
The Wittelsbach city palace runs 130 rooms across ten courtyards. The 1571 Antiquarium is Europe's largest Renaissance hall north of the Alps; Cuvilliés' 1755 rococo court theatre premiered Mozart's Idomeneo in 1781 and was rebuilt from panels stored in 1944.
Home of the Bayerische Staatsoper since 1818, where Wagner premiered Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger, Das Rheingold and Die Walküre under Ludwig II's patronage. Backstage tours run most afternoons and cross the 2,100-seat auditorium.
Stephan Braunfels' 2002 rotunda unites four collections: modern art from Kirchner to Beuys, Die Neue Sammlung's design archive of 80,000 objects, the architecture museum and a works-on-paper study room. Thursdays open until 20:00.
While the Gasteig is rebuilt, the Munich Philharmonic plays a converted transformer works in Sendling. The 1,900-seat hall was fitted out in eight months with a wooden inner shell; Yasuhisa Toyota tuned the acoustics.
The city museum's Moriskentänzer — ten carved Morris dancers by Erasmus Grasser from 1480 — are Munich's finest late-Gothic sculptures. Permanent galleries cover National Socialism in Munich and the puppet theatre collection.
Opened 1888 as Munich's grandest coffee house, where Kandinsky, Klee and the Blauer Reiter circle argued over marble tables. Rebuilt after 1944 bombing; the Palmengarten atrium and in-house Konditorei still make the Luitpoldtorte to the original recipe.
Troost's 1937 propaganda gallery now shows contemporary art and keeps its Nazi-era architecture legible as historical evidence. Walk north into Schwabing to Ainmillerstraße 36, where Kandinsky and Münter lived from 1908.
Richard Riemerschmid's 1901 Jugendstil auditorium on Maximilianstraße is one of the few surviving Art Nouveau theatres in Europe. Nearby Türkenstraße and Barer Straße hold the independent galleries that supply the Kunstareal's dealers.