Antiquarium (Münchner Residenz) - DSC07441

Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F033778-0027, München, Staatsbesuch König von Belgien

The Antiquarium was built from 1568 to house the ducal Collection of Classical Antiquities and Library as an extension of the

Munich Residenz The Residenz (, ''Residence'') in central Munich is the former royal palace of the Wittelsbach monarchs of Bavaria. The Residenz is the largest city palace in Germany and is today open to visitors for its architecture, room decorations, and displ ...

and was converted into a

ballroom A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially historic man ...

soon after. It is one of the most important surviving Renaissance collection buildings.

Architecture

The ground floor hall of the Antiquarium, 69 metres long, is considered the largest Renaissance hall north of the Alps. The continuous

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

is hollowed out by the piercing caps of the 17 pairs of windows and is transparent. The rich painting by artists such as Hans Donauer the Elder,

Alessandro Scalzi Alessandro Scalzi (died c. 1596, in Munich) was an Italian painter. All his surviving works are now in Bavaria Life Known as 'il Paduano' (the Paduan) despite actually being born in Florence, he was a relative (possibly brother-in-law) of Friedri ...

, called Padovano, Peter Candid and

Antonio Viviani Antonio Viviani (1560–1620) was an Italian painter of the late Renaissance and early Baroque. He was also called ''il Sordo di Urbino'' ("the Deaf of Urbino"), because of his self-absorption while painting frescoes. He was born in Urbino, and t ...

with 102 views of old Bavarian towns was completed only at around 1600.

History

The residence in downtown Munich was the seat of the Bavarian dukes, electors and kings. Between 1568 and 1571

Duke Albrecht V Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranke ...

built a free-standing, two-storey building there for his extensive sculpture collection (on the ground floor) and library (on the upper floor) based on ideas by Jacopo Strada from Mantua. In 1580-1584 Friedrich Sustris was commissioned to convert the ground floor hall of the Antiquarium into a festival and banquet hall, and the painting still preserved today was begun. During the Second World War, the vault was destroyed by an explosive

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...

in the middle. However, the moisture penetrating the vault in the following years was even more serious as it severely destroyed the

ceiling painting A painted ceiling is a ceiling covered with an artistic mural or painting. They are usually decorated with fresco painting, mosaic tiles and other surface treatments. While hard to execute (at least in situ) a decorated ceiling has the advantage ...

. Following the closure of the gap in the vaults and the reroofing of the building wing, the Antiquarium was rebuilt under the direction of

Otto Meitinger Otto Meitinger (8 May 1927 in Munich – 9 September 2017) was a German architect and preservationist. From 1987 to 1995 he was president of the Technical University Munich. Life Meitinger was born as son of the first municipal architect of Mu ...

. The hall is again used for receptions by the Bavarian state government and for concerts. It is part of the ''Residenzmuseum''.

References

{{coord missing, Bavaria Buildings and structures in Munich Historicist architecture in Munich Tourist attractions in Munich Heritage sites in Bavaria Culture in Munich Buildings and structures completed in 1568 Munich Residenz