Architecture
The first buildings at this site were erected in the year 1385. The sturdy new castle (Neuveste - new fortress), surrounded by wide moats at what used to be the very north eastern corner of the new double ring of walls, replaced the difficult to defend Old Court in the middle of the town as residence of the Wittelsbach rulers. The dukes of the often divided country felt the urge to keep some distance from the frequently rebellious city dwellers at the one hand and for some defense against their warlike relatives at the other. So they sought to build themselves a shelter impregnable and easy to leave (directly towards the glacis, without having to enter city lanes) at the same time. The gothic foundation walls and the basement vaults of the old castle are the oldest surviving parts of the palace. The Residenz's development over the centuries didn't only take place out of its main nucleus, the Neuveste, but in addition it grew together out of several single parts and extensions, the first of which used to be the Antiquarium (see below). Finally, after more than four centuries of development, the giant palace had practically replaced a whole former city quarter with barracks, a monastery, houses and gardens. It assembles the styles of the late Renaissance, as well as of Baroque, Rococo and Neo-Classicism.
With the order of William IV (1508-1550) to expand the Neuveste with the so-called Rundstubenbau and to set up the first Court Garden began the history of the Munich Residence as a representative palace. To the history cycle of this garden pavilion belonged once also the Battle of Issus of Albrecht Altdorfer. Maximilian I (1597–1651) commissioned what is now called the Old Residenz (Alte Residenz), the west wing of the palace. Today's admeasurements are from the times of Ludwig I of Bavaria (1825–1848), who instructed his architect Leo von Klenze to build the King's tract (Königsbau) in the south in the style of the Florentine Palazzo Pitti, the neoclassical 250 m-long Banqueting Hall wing (Festsaalbau) in the north and the Byzantine Court Church of All Saints (Allerheiligen-Hofkirche) at the east side. Facing the church, the Marstall, the building for the former Court Riding School and the royal stables, was erected by Klenze in 1817-1822. The Max-Joseph Denkmal at Max-Joseph-Platz before the Königsbau, was created as a memorial for King Maximilian Joseph (1799-1825) by Christian Daniel Rauch and carried out by Johann Baptist Stiglmaier, but only revealed in 1835 since the king had rejected to be eternalized in sitting position.
The Winter Garden was commissioned by Ludwig II of Bavaria (1864-1886). After the king’s death, the Winter Garden on the roof of the Festsaalbau of the Residenz Palace (ca. 1870) was dismantled in 1897 because of water leaking from the ornamental lake through the ceiling of the rooms below. Photographs and sketches still record this incredible creation which included a grotto, a Moorish kiosk, an Indian royal tent, an artificially illuminated rainbow and intermittent moonlight.
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