New Town Hall, Gothic Revival town hall at Marienplatz, Munich, Germany
The New Town Hall closes the north side of Marienplatz with a 98.5-metre frontage, its tower rising 85 metres and topped by the Münchner Kindl. The brick and shell-limestone building has six courtyards and 400 rooms. Its Marienplatz facade carries the largest princely cycle on a German town hall, with Wittelsbach rulers and an equestrian statue of Prince Regent Luitpold.
Munich's council decided around 1865 to replace the cramped Old Town Hall and Lesser Town Hall on Petersbergl. Georg von Hauberrisser won the competition, and the foundation stone was laid on 25 August 1867, King Ludwig II's birthday. The first section opened in 1874; purchases along Diener-, Landschaft- and Weinstraße enabled extensions from 1889, and the 85-metre tower's keystone was set in December 1905.
The Glockenspiel in the tower's seventh floor plays daily at 11am, 12pm and 5pm, with 43 bells and 32 figures reenacting the 1568 wedding of Duke Wilhelm V and Renata of Lorraine, including the coopers' dance and a knight's tournament. A night watchman blows his horn and an angel blesses the Münchner Kindl. The melodies change through the year.
Visitors can reach the observation deck comfortably by elevator for clear views across the city. Plan to visit during daylight hours and fair weather to get the best sight lines.
The tower's carillon, first heard in 1908, is the fifth-largest clockwork in Europe: 43 bells play rotating combinations of four melodies, while 32 figures perform the coopers' dance and a knight's tournament from the 1568 wedding of Duke Wilhelm V and Renata of Lorraine. In the seventh-floor bay windows a night watchman blows his horn and an angel blesses the Münchner Kindl.
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