May 2008
EDITORIAL
Dear Reader,
This month, festivities commence celebrating the 850-year anniversary of the founding of Munich. In comparison to other German and European cities, that does not make Munich a particularly old city. However, the founding was just a bureaucratic event on June 14, 1158—when Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa issued a document to settle a dispute between the Bishop of Freising and Henry XII “The Lion.” One often forgets that the Munich area was populated long before Barbarossa’s record.
Excavations in the city center show that humans had settled here as early as 2000 BC. Graves from the Stone Age have been found in Berg am Laim, Pasing and Sendling. Two major Roman roads led through Grünwald and Unterföhring. Districts of Munich that are incorporated into the city today existed long before 1158. Settlements in Feldmoching and Sendling came into being around 500. In the 8th century, Bogenhausen appeared in a record as “Pupinhusir,” Trudering was mentioned as “Trutheringa” and in 790 a document referred to “Kyesing,” which would later be known as the Giesing district. Even our city’s name points at the existence of settlements earlier than 1158: The city nucleus was born from a community of monks from Schäftlarn who lived at the Petersbergl long before Henry XII, and every child learns that the city’s name is most likely derived from the word “munich,” the old German expression for “monk.”
As citizens of beautiful München, we enjoy the picturesque remains of history on every corner. While such vestiges ought to be preserved, the sometimes rigid and bureaucratic policy of conservation stifles interesting developments in the present. The unbending rejection of architectural novelties and the city’s ambivalent strategy on how to deal with sub-culture are just two examples, where innovative minds often face limitations. It is with a view to such tensions that each month’s MUNICH FOUND combines the promotion of the city’s many present activities with an account of Munich’s rich past, while not forgetting that history itself is a shifting matter harboring many contradictory forces. In addition, there are inspiring institutions and projects that successfully coalesce Munich’s inheritance with today’s way of life. Two examples mentioned in this issue are the installation of a traditional maypole with modern motifs in the Glockenbach district and the Landmark article on a century-old mill. Both are symbols of the fact that a museum-like atmosphere is not the only way to preserve history while vivaciously living up to the demands of the 21st century. On that note, enjoy MUNICH FOUND’s compilation of news and events in May 2008.
Sincerely,
Katharina Adler
Managing Editor
