A bit of history for those who have often wondered about that massive monument on the hill.
Perhaps the best time to view the Maximilianeum is late in the evening. Standing on austere Max-Joseph-Platz at 11:00 pm, across from the cozy, classical arches of the post office, as theaters disgorge their fashionably clad visitors in search of cafés and city center discos open their doors to receive trendy guests fresh from cocktail bars, it seems that the elegant, spotlit, sunset-yellow building with its regimented arches is part of the crowd.The Maximilianeum’s facade is quite handsome, yet a short stroll around the back of the building reveals a not-so-pretty jumble of boxy, multicolored additions. While there is a certain attempt at symmetry, it is obvious that the additions came much later as the function of the Maximilianeum overtook its form. Despite its rather unbecoming backside, however, one gets the impression that the builder of the Maximilianeum, King Maximilian II, would not be displeased. For it is exactly this duality of purpose, beauty and functionality that he had in mind when he commissioned the building—that, and his own legacy. When Maximilian II was crowned king, on March 20, 1848, following the abdication of his father, Ludwig I, he knew he had a lot to live up to. Both his father and his grandfather, Maximilian I, had transformed Munich during the previous five decades from a medieval fortified town into a city worthy of governing a kingdom. Walls had come down and building after building had been erected: The Old Pinakothek; the three monumental structures on Königsplatz; the Ludwigstrasse; the Siegestor; the Bavarian National Theater; the enlarged Residenz.
Maximilian II wanted a monument of his own. He decided that he would create a magnificent boulevard uniting the center of the city with the Isar River to the east. Rather than repeating the pomp of Ludwigstrasse, however, the new street, soon to be named after its builder, would be broad and tree-lined. And the buildings would be designed according to the Maximilian style—an architectural form combining Renaissance harmony with NeoGothic elegance—which Maximilian, while still prince, had developed with his court architect, Friedrich Bürklein.
Yet Maximilian wasn’t only interested in architecture. Learning, too, was a great love of his. So much so that, upon completing studies in history, philosophy and economics in Göttingen and Berlin, he would have become a university professor had the option been open to him. During his reign, in fact, he was responsible for bringing a number of well-respected academics, the so-called Northern Lights, to Munich to teach at the university. So when it came time to design a fitting conclusion to his boulevard, the king wanted it to be both a monument to modern architecture and a living monument to learning. It was to house the Stiftung Maximilianeum, an institution where 26 of Bavaria’s best young scholars could study without material worries. The program continues today and counts among its 700 alumni two of Bavaria’s most famous sons: Franz Joseph Strauss, Bavarian Minister President from 1978 to 1988, and Werner Heisenberg, Nobel Prize-winning physicist who spent World War II working toward creating the atom bomb for Germany.
The Maximilianeum took 17 years to build, from the wet and stormy corner stone laying ceremony in 1857 to the moment in 1874 when the 26 Maximilianeer could finally move from their provisional lodgings into their new home. During those 17 years, the king made one important design change to Bürklein’s original plans. Shortly before his untimely death, in 1864, the king, bowing to growing criticism of the Maximilian style, eliminated the pointed arches that characterize most of the buildings on Maximilianstrasse in favor of the rounded arches that can be seen today.
Maximilian also left a third important legacy. In response to his father’s forced abdication, a result of his unwillingness to undertake democratic reforms, the regent created the popularly elected Landtag in 1848 and gave it unprecedented legislative powers. Originally housed elsewhere, it is fitting that, following the extensive repair work necessary after World War II, the reconstituted Bayerischer Landtag moved into the Maximilianeum in 1949 and has remained there ever since.
Today, the Maximilianeum complex, as promised by its somewhat eclectic collection of different buildings and styles, is a maze of meeting rooms, vaulted parliament halls and living spaces. It houses, in addition to 26 Maximilianeer, an additional 10 women who were added to the program in 1980. It contains a plenary hall, large enough for the entire legislative body of 204 representatives to meet, and numerous smaller rooms. Finally, it serves as a museum, providing shelter for the 17 remaining paintings from the series called “The Historical Gallery,” originally 30 oil paintings depicting important historical events. Despite its workaday functionality, the Maximilianeum maintains its grace, remaining an impressive monument in addition to being a guardian angel of Munich’s nightlife.
