St. Michael's Church
St. Michael's Church is one of the narrated stops on the self-guided Munich audio walking tour in Gingerguide. Plan about ~30 min here. Press play at the spot for its two to three minute story, or ask the AI guide anything about it.
- Type religious
- Suggested visit ~30 min
- Munich Munich guide
About St. Michael's Church
The great white Jesuit church built to win Bavaria back for Rome, a vast unsupported vault above, and below, the flower-strewn tomb of Ludwig II, the fairy-tale king.
St. Michael's Church (Michaelskirche), on the Neuhauser Straße shopping street, was built between 1583 and 1597 by Duke Wilhelm V as a Jesuit church and a centrepiece of the Counter-Reformation in southern Germany. Modelled on the Jesuits' mother church, Il Gesù in Rome, it presents a facade lined with fifteen figures of the Wittelsbach dynasty beneath Christ, and a bronze of the Archangel Michael defeating the devil between its doors. During construction its tower collapsed in 1590, destroying the finished choir; Wilhelm V took this as a sign to build on a grander scale, and the enlarged church was completed with a barrel vault spanning some twenty metres without internal supports. Its own body describes it as the first and largest Renaissance church north of the Alps. The crypt holds around forty members of the House of Wittelsbach, including King Ludwig II. The vault was rebuilt after Second World War bombing.
Did you know? Among the forty Wittelsbachs in the crypt lies an outsider: Eugène de Beauharnais, Napoleon's stepson, who married into the Bavarian royal house and ended up entombed beneath a Munich church.
How long should you spend at St. Michael's Church?
Plan about ~30 min at St. Michael's Church. That is enough to take it in and hear its narrated story; stay longer if it grabs you. The tour is self-guided, so there is no rush.
Is St. Michael's Church worth visiting?
St. Michael's Church is one of the 26 sights the Gingerguide team researched and narrated in Munich, so it earns a place on a self-guided walk. Its story explains why it matters, and you can ask the AI guide anything the story leaves open.
Nearby stops in Munich
Hear the story of St. Michael's Church
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