Munich, Germany

Three weekends down, many more to go. This trip led me to Munich, Germany for the first weekend of Oktoberfest. I wish we could have had more time exploring this city but there is only so much time in 3 days when most of the time is spent traveling (Will definitely be using that as an excuse to go back and visit). After traveling all morning on Friday, I had the opportunity to walk around Marienplatz and admire the architecture.

This building I came across originally caught my eye due to its bright salmon-colored facade. It is actually a color I often include in my daily wardrobe. Upon further inspection, I learned that this building was actually called "The Bürgersaal." It was built as a prayer and assembly hall of the Marian men's congregation "Annunciation." According to its original owner, Giovanni Antonio Viscardi, it was built in 1709 or 1710. However, since 1778, the hall has been used as a church. The building has a baroque feel to it and above the door, there is a sculpture of a Madonna and child. The golden inscription on the building say, "DIVAE MATRI VIRGINI / DEVOTI FILII DD. CC. Monac. ANNO MDCCX" which translates to: The virginal godmother [have built this building] as [her] devoted sons the lords and citizens of Munich in 1710."

Another interesting building that I passed by was St. Peter's Church. It is a Roman Catholic Church set in the inner city of Munich. It also happens to be the oldest church in its district. St. Peter's caught my eye because I was just walking down the street when I turned to my right and I saw this beautiful architecture. It kind of seems like it was plopped right into the center of the city. The gothic style architecture is evident in the pointed arch of the church as well as the clustered columns, intricate sculptures, ribbed vaults, and large expanses of glass. I thought the use of different colors on the roof was interesting and would love to learn more about the reasoning behind that.

In the evening, we visited the historic Hofbräuhaus Brewery where we met many people from all different nationalities. While sitting at our table, I came across the front cover of the menu we were given. Many different colors were used. It was interesting to see the use of depth and perspective on this menu cover. All of the items seem to be about the same size when in reality, they are not. The barrels seem to be in the foreground of the piece and look bigger than normal. Meanwhile, a painting of the Brewery from the outside sits in about the center/background of the page but is clearly smaller in proportion to what one would expect. Its interesting also to note how the building seems to be sitting on top of a fountain stand of some sort that makes the two objects have the illusion of being one right on top of the other. It must have been a decision made to help fit all the important aspects/history of the Brewery into the menu cover.

On our last day in Munich, I had the opportunity to visit the Dachau Concentration camp right outside of Munich. It was such a chilling, humbling, and eye-opening experience because I had only ever read about these types of places in books. Although it is just a memorial to honor those we lost during this horrific time, it was terrible to think back at what happened on this site. In one of the larger open areas was this structure that specifies the dates prisoners were held here. Above it are a mass of tangled bodies that represent those prisoners. The size of the bodies represents the starvation they went through while the way their bodies are contorted emphasizes the mess and tribulation they suffered while being tortured or experimented on. The meaning behind this modern sculpture may not be great, but it creates a compelling piece of artwork that speaks to anyone who comes in its path.