Alte Münze, Renaissance landmark in Münchner Altstadt, Munich, Germany
Alte Münze is a building in Munich's old town that combines Renaissance and Neoclassical features. It has a four-wing structure with an inner courtyard whose arcades are supported by red marble columns.
Built from 1563 to 1567 for Duke Albrecht V as a ducal stable and art chamber, the Alte Münze housed a three-aisled vaulted stable on the ground floor and a collection of over 6,000 objects above. Looted by Swedish troops in 1632, the collection was dissolved in 1807/19. From 1809 the building became the Royal Bavarian Mint, with a Neoclassical facade by Johann Andreas Gärtner.
The name refers to its past role as a royal mint where Bavarian coins were produced. Visitors today can see how the courtyard layout reflects the working needs of the historical coin production.
The building currently houses the Bavarian State Office for Monument Conservation and the inner courtyard is open to the public. Plan time to view the arcades and courtyard architecture at a relaxed pace.
The 1809 conversion inserted a mezzanine into the top floor, where the ducal art chamber had been. That collection, begun under Albrecht V, held over 6,000 objects, among them Altdorfer's "The Battle of Alexander" and Jakob Sandtner's city models; Swedish troops plundered it in 1632, and it was dissolved in 1807/19.
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