Oberpollinger, Department store in Altstadt, Munich, Germany
Oberpollinger is a department store in Munich's old town, housed in a building with a Neo-Renaissance facade and a central glass dome. Its seven floors rest on an iron frame structure and hold departments for fashion, beauty, home furnishings, and dining.
The building was designed in 1905 by architect Max Littmann, replacing five medieval houses and the former ducal salt office on Neuhauser Strasse. That construction turned a stretch of the old city's fabric into a modern retail building at the start of the 20th century.
The name traces back to a brewery from the 16th century that needed to distinguish itself from another family-run brewery nearby. Shoppers in Munich have been coming to this spot on Neuhauser Strasse for high-end purchases for well over a century.
The store sits directly on Munich's main pedestrian zone, within easy walking distance of both the main train station and Marienplatz. It is worth setting aside extra time since the departments are spread across several floors and the building itself is worth looking around.
When the building went up in the early 20th century, workers uncovered facade fragments from the medieval period, showing how densely this part of the old town had been built before. The iron frame structure that holds up the glass dome was one of the most advanced construction methods used in Munich at the time.
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