A Sepulchral Tour of Munich

For people interested in cemeteries and crypts, Munich is one of the best places in Germany to visit. The city has several churches with very nice crypts, as well as some beautifull cemeteries. Let's begin with Munich's most famous landmark, the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady). If you enter through the front door, you will notice a large monument made of black marble. It's the tomb of emperor Ludwig IV the Bavarian. He became king in 1314 and was crowned emperor in 1328. He died on 11 October 1347, but this tomb was made in 1622 by Hans Krumper. The actual grave of the emperor is located in the crypt. Walk to the back of the church and see if the crypt is open (sometimes it's closed for cleaning etc.). The crypt is modern and well lit (it was damaged by bombs in 1944 and restored in 1952) and has none of the 'crypt atmosphere' that I like so well. The coffins have been put into the walls next to the stairs and each grave is marked by a stone. You will see the names of the above mentioned emperor, several dukes and electors of Bavaria and Ludwig III, the last king of Bavaria (dethroned in 1918, died in 1921).

Another church not to be missed is the Michaelskirche (St. Michael's Church), which is nearby. Admire the fine Rococo interior and then quickly find the entrance to the crypt. You have to pay a very small admission fee to enter, but it's well worth it. This crypt really is ghoul-heaven. It's dark, it smells like a crypt, you can walk between the coffins and touch them and you can take pictures (see the picture below). You will see the metal coffins of king Ludwig II (the famous mad king who built those fairytale castles), king Otto (who was so mad that he spent his life in a castle with rubber-coated walls, while his uncle Luitpold ruled as regent) and Eugene de Beauharnais. Eugene was the son of Josephine de Beauharnais (Napoleon's wife) and her first husband, general Alexandre de Beauharnais. He married a daughter of king Maximilian I of Bavaria in 1806 and was created Duke of Leuchtenberg in 1817. That's the reason why he was buried in this crypt.

If all this fun has made you thirsty, now would be an excellent time to take a break. There are several excellent beer-cellars in the Neuhauser Strasse and the Kaufinger Strasse. Our next stop is the Theatinerkirche, near the Odeonsplatz. King Maximilian II (d. 1864) and his wife are buried in their own chapel in the church. In the back of the church is the entrance to the crypt. Again, you will have to pay a small fee to enter. Among the coffins, you will notice emperor Charles VII (a Bavarian elector who fought against Maria Theresia of Habsburg in the War of the Austrian Succession and lost), the popular prince-regent Luitpold (he deposed king Ludwig II in 1886 and ruled as regent for the insane king Otto) and king Otto of Greece (a Bavarian prince who became king of Greece in 1832 and was overthrown by the Greek army in 1862).

This concludes the underground part of this tour. But we aren't done yet! Take the U-Bahn from Odeonsplatz to Sendlinger Tor. From the Sendlinger-Tor-Platz, walk down Thalkirchner Strasse untill you reach the gate of the Alte Südfriedhof (Old Southern Cemetery). It started out as a cemetery for paupers, but around 1800 the churchyards in Munich were closed and the Südfriedhof became Munich's main cemetery. Here, you will see the graves of Bavarian statesmen, scientists (Ohm), sculptors (Schwanthaler), architects (Karl von Fischer, Leo von Klenze), painters (Stieler, picture below, left), brewers (Pschorr, picture below, right) and other notable persons, like Alois Senefelder, who invented lithography. The cemetery has been a public park since 1944, which means that you will probably see some homeless people hanging around. There's a map near the entrance which shows the locations of the most interesting graves.

We have now reached the end of this tour past Munich's most interesting sepulchral sights. There are other cemeteries in Munich, but they are newer and I have little information on them. There's the Ostfriedhof, which looks interesting, but has no map for visitors. In the crematorium the Nazis that were executed in Nürnberg in 1946 were cremated. If you enjoy simply walking through a cemetery and looking at the graves, try the Waldfriedhof in the south-west of the city. It's like a big forest with graves in it, but again: no map. Anyway, I'm off to the beergarden for a quick Weissbier.

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