Discover Munich's miniature masterpieces
Christmas time. If you consider the experience most people have between the end of November and December 24, the two words don’t really seem to go together. Christmas time, for most of us, means not enough time. Not enough time to finish the shopping, stuff the turkey, wrap the presents, send the cards, bake the cookies, get the house tidy enough to satisfy the in-laws—let alone to contemplate the real meaning of the holiday or to recall the origin of Christmas. But for all you bleary-eyed celebrants, the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum (Bavarian National Museum) at Prinzregentenstrasse 3 offers a traditional delight, which could even save you time. Yes, rather than going from church to church to view the holiday decorations, the time-pressed would do well to visit the museum’s comprehensive, high-quality collection of Christmas nativity scenes—one of the finest of its kind in the world. The origin of the nativity scene, or Weihnachtskrippe as it is called in German, dates back to the year 1223, when St. Francis of Assisi reenacted what many believe was the first living nativity scene. With the intention of making the Christmas liturgy more understandable to the common people, St. Francis placed a baby in a manger as an ox and a donkey looked on. About 200 years later, the first nativity scenes as we know them today began appearing. Churches and monasteries as well as royal courts and private wealthy families invested much energy and money into the production of nativity scenes, promoting it as an art form. The Bayerisches Nationalmuseum boasts more than 60 of the scenes, created in the Alpine region, Munich, Naples and Sicily between 1700 and the mid-19th century. They come from churches, the Neapolitan court and private collectors. The main part of the collection arrived at the museum between 1892 and 1906 as a donation from the collector and financier Max Schmederer. Schmederer was also responsible for designing many of the backdrops and buildings in which the figures are situated. The finest works in the collection are, without a doubt, those from 18th-century Naples. These colorful scenes of everyday life are filled with finely crafted miniature accessories. For anyone who’s ever been fascinated by the sort of tiny props and accessories you get for dollhouses, the street scenes of Naples are a feast for the eyes. The craftsmanship exhibited in the figures is admirable as well. Each of the clay heads with glass eyes, while not being particularly attractive, has a unique personality. One can even detect a five o’clock shadow on the faces of the darker-skinned men. Their carved wooden limbs and hands, frozen in expressive southern-Italian gestures, are clothed in delicately stitched garments. The figures do not reflect the true-to-life appearance of everyday people, but the image that the wealthy and the nobility had of them. There was also obviously no attempt made by the artists to produce historically accurate recreations of the Christmas stories. Instead the figures in the scenes are typical of the time and region in which they were made. This was to have the effect of allowing those who viewed the scenes to feel a more personal connection with the events. However, the lively action and meticulous detail are often so painstakingly depicted that the miraculous events of the day in question actually appear to be of secondary importance. It seems that most of the townspeople are oblivious to the fact that God’s son has just been born. Remarkable displays include Box Nativity Scene Showing the Adoration of the Shepherds, a Neapolitan work whose striking composition, color and forms are quite beautiful, and the Adoration of the Magi in a Marble Palace, which has one of the most impressive backdrops of all the nativity scenes in the collection. Max Schmederer produced many drawings for the marble palace, which he based on paintings by Paolo Veronese. It is also worth looking out for the tiny finimenti that the Wise Men present to the holy family in this scene, as well as those in the Treasury and Armory of the Magi, which were all the work of some of the most celebrated craftsmen of the day. So if you find that the hustle and bustle of the festive season has distracted you from the true meaning of Christmas a visit to the nativity scene collection at the Nationalmuseum may be just what you need. But worry not. If you really are pushed for time, there’s no need to let the pressure of squeezing in a trip to the exhibition add even more stress to your Christmas schedule—the nativity scenes are on display all year round.