No one would ever call the Theresienwiese the heart of Munich. Originally located outside the city gates, this 54-acre meadow lies silent most of the year. In September it explodes with the raucous tumult of Oktoberfest. Tollwood and other festivals also pitch their tents on the site, but building regulations against permanent structures mean that its long-term residents are bugs, birds and the occasional sun-bather. Many tourists probably don’t even give it a look. For more than a century, however, the Theresienwiese has been an indispensible backdrop for the celebration of Munich and its residents.
On October 12, 1810, Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria (later King Ludwig I) married Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The Wittelsbachs hosted a five-day Volksfest of music, feasts and parades throughout Munich. The gala was an occasion not only to celebrate the marriage, but also to thank their subjects for the patience they had shown during the Franco-Austrian war, when Bavaria was a French ally. For the Wittelsbachs, Ludwig and his marriage represented the beginning of a new Bavaria. They celebrated how far they had come and where they soon could go. The festivities closed with a series of horse races on a meadow just outside the city gates, and the grounds were named “Theresienwiese” (or “Wies’n” for short) in honor of the bride. The name is used to this day.
Owing to popular demand, civic pride and, of course, financial opportunity, the Bavarian farming association funded another installment of the event the following year.—. They held an agricultural fair alongside the horse races, which, unlike the competition, is still held every four years. By 1818, amusement rides and beer appeared on the grounds. In recognition of the event’s growing popularity and importance to civic spirit, the city stepped in as official backers in 1819. In 1820, the event was moved to September to take advantage of better weather. From there, its popularity and offerings steadily grew. To present, the festival has been cancelled just 24 times, for a variety of reasons including war and disease. As the backdrop to Oktoberfest, the Theresienwiese is an essential feature of the face that Munich presents to visitors and people around the world. On its southwestern border, however, visitors will encounter more lifelike visages—busts of famous Munich residents in the Ruhmeshalle (Hall of Fame) and the enormous lady and lion statue, “Bavaria.”
After Napoleon's defeat near Leipzig in 1813, Bavaria entered one of its first real periods of peace. Beginning to dream of uniting a great German nation, Ludwig I initiated the construction of several monuments and other structures to foster Bavarian pride. Over the next several decades, many other constructions were completed: the Glyptothek, the Propyläen, the Antikensammlung and the Obelisk on Karolinenplatz, the Feldherrnhalle and the Siegestor. Entirely classic in their aesthetic, they reflect Ludwig’s enduring fascination with Greek culture and his desire to transform Munich to “Athens on the Isar.”
In February of 1833, Ludwig started a competition for the design of the Ruhmeshalle and invited many prominent architects from the region to participate. Though he expressly stated that he would accept designs in the increasingly-popular Romantic style, he ultimately chose the design of Hofbaumeister Leo von Klenze. Von Klenze’s Neoclassical, doric-columned building was not very different from the Walhalla temple he had already built near Regensburg. The real innovation was his proposed statue of the Amazonian figure, “Bavaria,” which would loom imposingly before the hall. Ludwig was enchanted with the idea of constructing a statue the likes of which had not been seen since ancient times. “Only Nero and I,” he wrote with excitement, “could build such a colossus.”
Von Klenze turned over his design for the figure to sculptor Ludwig Schwanthaler, who added a more modern Romantic touch and “Germanized” its features by removing the helmet, adding a bearskin, replacing the laurel wreath with an oak wreath and switching the spear for a sword. Made over a six-year period by Johann Baptist Stiglmaier and Ferdinand von Miller, the bronze statue was erected in its current location in 1850. Visitors can climb up the 66 steps from the hollow knee to the crown for a fantastic view of the city.
Aside from the majestic allegory for the Bavarian people on its steps, the Ruhmeshalle itself includes honorific representations of significant Bavarians. Seventy-four original busts were installed in 1853. In 1868, ten new ones were added, and in 1888, a bust of Ludwig was installed to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of his birth. After sustaining damage during the war, the Ruhmeshalle was renovated and, with even more busts on display, it reopened in 1972. Some of its famous “residents” include: Albrecht Dürer, Franz Marc, poet Hans Sachs, author Ludwig Thoma, philosopher Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling and, naturally, Leo von Klenze and Ludwig Schwanthaler. The Ruhmeshalle is open from 9am to 8pm during the Oktoberfest and closes for the winter on October 16. It opens again in April, albeit with shorter hours.
From the Wittelsbach family’s “thank you” in 1810, to the colossal tribute of King Ludwig I and the world-renowned spectacle of the modern Oktoberfest, this unassuming stretch of grass is an integral element of the cityscape. It may not be its heart, but perhaps it is its herald.
