February 2008
The MUNIQuiz
The Jewish Museum on St. Jakobs-
platz, which opened last year, seems to have merged with its Catholic surroundings by mounting a cross on its roof.
How can this unexpected ecumenical development be explained?Send your guesses to
win@munichfound.com
to be entered into a lottery for our monthly prize.
Winter 2007/2008 Solution:
The foot on exhibition in the foyer of the Münchner Stadt-museum once belonged to the
Friedensengel (Angel of Peace) statue on Prinzregentenstrasse. Commissioned by the city council, the monument was finished in 1899 to mark 25 years of peace following the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71. The golden angel, however, imitates a Greek statue by Paionios—Nike, who is actually the goddess of victory. The reinterpretation of one of their most prominent landmarks as a symbol of peace can be attributed to Munich’s fervently pacifist citizens. The Friedensengel rises from a 23-meter Corinthian column, which is based on a hall that resembles the Erechtheum temple on the Acropolis in Athens. Inside that hall, gold mosaics depict the allegories of Peace, War, Victory and Culture. A few years ago, with the financial support of
Münchner citizens, the Friedensengel was renovated. It was then that the statue’s supporting leg was replaced, and new gold plating was bestowed upon the six-meter bronze figure. <<<
