Munich

Munich was a tiny 10th-century monastic settlement, which was named zu den Munchen ("to the monks"). The Old High German Munche served as the base for the modern German city name München. The river Isar was a prehistoric trade route and in the Bronze Age Munich was among the largest raft ports in Europe. Bronze Age settlements up to four millennia old have been discovered. Evidence of Celtic settlements from the Iron Age have been discovered in areas around Ramersdorf-Perlach. The ancient Roman road Via Julia, which connected Augsburg and Salzburg, crossed over the Isar south of Munich, at the towns of Baierbrunn and Gauting. A Roman settlement north-east of Munich was excavated in the neighborhood of Denning. Starting in the 6th century, the Baiuvarii populated the area around what is now modern Munich, such as in Johanneskirchen, Feldmoching, Bogenhausen and Pasing. …

Munich lies on the elevated plains of Upper Bavaria in the Northern Alpine Foreland, about 50 km north of the Alps and at about 520 m above mean sea level. The rivers Isar and Würm flow through the city. The northern part of this sandy plateau includes a highly fertile flint area no longer affected by Alpine tectonic processes, while the southern part is covered with morainic hills. Between them are fluvio-glacial outwash plains around Munich. Where these deposits become thinner, groundwater can rise through the gravel surface, causing marsh formation in northern Munich. According to the Köppen climate classification, the climate is oceanic (Cfb) bordering on humid continental (Dfb), with features like warm to hot summers and cold winters, but without permanent snow cover. The city centre lies between both climates, while the airport of Munich has a humid continental climate. …

At the centre of the old town is the Marienplatz with the Old Town Hall and the New Town Hall. Its tower contains the Rathaus-Glockenspiel. The Peterskirche is the oldest church of the inner city. Nearby St. Peter, the Gothic hall-church Heiliggeistkirche was converted to baroque style from 1724 onwards and looks down upon the Viktualienmarkt. Three gates of the demolished medieval fortification survive; these are the Isartor, the Sendlinger Tor, and the Karlstor. The Karlstor leads up to the Stachus, a square dominated by the Justizpalast (Palace of Justice). The Frauenkirche serves as the cathedral for the Catholic Archdiocese of Munich and Freising. The nearby Michaelskirche is the largest renaissance church north of the Alps, while the Theatinerkirche is a basilica in Italianate high baroque, which had a major influence on southern German baroque architecture. …