How the Theresienwiese came to be the making of Munich
For most people, the Theresienwiese is synonymous with beer. But, in the early days of the Oktoberfest, brewers were prohibited from selling on site. Indeed, there were no beer tents, no roller coasters, no Hendl roasters and certainly no crowds of drunken foreigners in felt hats—which may set Oktoberfest aficionados wondering what the point of the original celebrations actually were. In fact, the festival came into being on October 17, 1810, when a horse race was held to celebrate the marriage of Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Theresa of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The event took place on what was then a meadow (Wiese) on the outskirts of Munich. The land was consequently named after the bride and has been known as the Theresienwiese (or Wies’n for short) ever since. Although the original lasted just one day, it was such a success that it was decided to repeat the event every year. Come the second Oktoberfest, people were already beginning to see the commercial opportunities it offered. Seizing on the chance to advertise their services, the Bavarian farming association agreed to fund the event in 1811 with an agricultural fair that is still held every four years. Over the following seven years, the Oktoberfest continued to grow, funded by a variety of private investors. Despite a hitch in 1813, when the event was canceled because Bavaria was at war with Napoleon, it soon became clear that this baby was going to run and run, and the City of Munich agreed to step in as official backers in 1819. Their decision was probably helped by developments the previous year, which saw the opening of the first amusement rides—two swings and a carousel—and the first sales of beer on the Wies’n, meaning visitors no longer had to buy their drinks in Sendling on their way to the festival. Visitor numbers increased accordingly, helped by the fact that the Oktoberfest was brought forward to September in 1820, to take advantage of better weather. It was not long before the breweries were vying for the trade, building bowling alleys and dance floors in their small beer booths (large tents were not seen on the Wies’n until 1896) with trees for children to climb. In fact, in the 1860s, these trees gave way to one of the first recorded Wies’n sports. The bark was polished, and men would then attempt to climb up to grab themselves a prize hanging from the branches. With limited fairground rides, visitors soon came up with other forms of entertainment, including wheelbarrow racing, sack racing and an eating contest, in which two volunteers would sit blindfolded and try to feed each other pureed fruit. Another sport saw punters balancing on a rolling barrel and trying to grab bits of goose, which were dangled in front of them on a stick. Some people, though, had to go that one bit further to impress, and in 1880 an entertainer showed up with a troop of dogs, which he claimed could play cards, dance and recognize various areas of Europe on a map. Whoever said alcohol could do strange things to the mind? Whether or not the dogs were enlightened in 1880, the Wies’n certainly was, as electricity was introduced and the 400 beer booths and tents were filled with light. There were further innovations on the food and drink front. In 1881 the first Hendl and ox grills opened and, 11 years later, the Mass was introduced—a controversial move among traditionalists, who preferred to stick to their steins. Not everyone was feeling gluttonous. In 1904 “hunger artist” Riccardo Sacco locked himself in a glass box on the Wies’n, vowing not to eat anything for 14 days (now we know where David Blaine got his inspiration from when he attempted a similar feat in London last year). However, after two days of protests from onlookers, Sacco was forced out and marched off to Café Wittelsbach for a good meal. As for the 20th century, it was a time when bigger was better and more was greater. The first 35 years saw not only the introduction of the first roller coaster, in 1909, and the big wheel, in 1932, but also the construction of the Oktoberfest’s biggest beer tent to date. In 1913 the 5,500-square-meter Pschorr-Bräu-Rosl tent had room for 12,000 guests, which is some 2,000 more than will fit in the Hofbräu tent, the biggest on the Wies’n today. Indeed, visitor numbers increased consistently throughout the century, hitting a record 7.1 million in 1985. And it seems the crowds just keep getting thirstier. In 1950, when Munich mayor Thomas Wimmer initiated the tradition of tapping the first keg of beer to mark the beginning of the Oktoberfest with the words “Ozapft is,” little did he imagine how quickly beer consumption would increase over the next 50 years or so. In 2003, for example, visitors guzzled their way through 6.4 million liters of beer, almost double the amount that was drunk in 1965, in itself more than double that drunk in 1950—which all in all, is not bad going. Theresa and Ludwig’s marriage may have failed more than 150 years ago, but its legacy looks set to go from strength to strength.