Unterföhring is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Upper Bavaria Upper Bavaria (german: Oberbayern, ; ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany. Geography Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered on the city of Munich, both state capital and seat o ...

. It lies adjacent to the northeast side of

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, and is one of the nearest

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

s to Munich's central district.

History

Before the establishment of

around 1158, an important crossing existed over the river

Isar The Isar is a river in Tyrol, Austria, and Bavaria, Germany, which is not navigable for watercraft above raft size. Its source is in the Karwendel range of the Alps in Tyrol; it enters Germany near Mittenwald and flows through Bad Tölz, Munic ...

, the ''Föhringer Brücke''. Unterföhring was mentioned in documents for the first time in 1180 as an independent place (inferius Feringin). Unterföhring was part of the

Prince-Bishopric of Freising The Prince-Bishopric of Freising (German: ''Hochstift Freising'') was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1294 until its secularisation in the early years of the 19th century. The Prince-Bishopric of Freising should ...

. Since the

Reichsdeputationshauptschluss The ' (formally the ', or "Principal Conclusion of the Extraordinary Imperial Delegation"), sometimes referred to in English as the Final Recess or the Imperial Recess of 1803, was a resolution passed by the ' (Imperial Diet) of the Holy Roman Em ...

of 1803 the place belongs to

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

. In the course of the administrative reforms in Bavaria the today's municipality was created with the municipality edict of 1818.

Economy

Unterföhring is one of the most important media centers of Germany. The 1950s saw the settlement of the RIVA photometric companies. In 1962 the Bavarian broadcaster ( BR) and

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

took over RIVA Studios. In 1972, Taurus films, the later

Kirch Group KirchGruppe (KirchGroup) was a German media group founded by Leo Kirch (1926–2011) in the 1960s. By 2000, it controlled a 52.5 percent stake in what would become the country's biggest broadcaster. The group collapsed in 2002 largely due to the ...

, was founded. Since 2000, ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG is also based here. In addition,

Sky Deutschland Sky Deutschland GmbH, branded as Sky, is a German media company that operates a direct broadcast satellite Pay TV platform in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (through Sky Switzerland). It provides a collection of basic and premium digital sub ...

and

Vodafone Kabel Deutschland Vodafone Kabel Deutschland GmbH is the largest cable television operator in Germany. Kabel Deutschland was subject to a hostile takeover bid by the British Vodafone Group in September 2013; the deal was approved in December 2013 and finalised on ...

, the largest cable operators in Germany, have their headquarters in the city. One of the largest independent film production companies in Germany, the

Neue Deutsche Filmgesellschaft The Neue Deutsche Filmgesellschaft (NDF) is a German film production company headquartered in Unterföhring near Munich, with locations in Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne. ndF is one of the largest independent film production companies in Germany. I ...

, has their head offices here. Unterföhring is also the location of MX1 (previously

SES Platform Services SES Platform Services GmbH (previously ASTRA Platform Services GmbH, later MX1, now part of SES Video) was a subsidiary company of SES (owner and operator of the Astra satellites) based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg . From its headquarters in Unterf ...

, now part of SES Video) which provides signal processing and distribution for television and radio stations, and broadcast data services. Besides media enterprises, major insurance companies are situated east of the rapid-transit railway line S8 in the trade area of Unterföhring. The largest employer is

Allianz Allianz ( , ) is a German multinational financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core businesses are insurance and asset management. The company is one of the world's largest insurers and financial services groups. The ...

SE with approximately 6,000 workers. Another employer is the AGIS Allianz Dresdner Information Systems GmbH, an IT service provider and subsidiary of Allianz SE, with a large computing center. Other subsidiaries of the Allianz company are also located in Unterföhring. Also in the vicinity is Swiss Re Life, Unicredit and Health Germany, part of the

Swiss Re Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd,
Swiss Re. Retrieved on 18 January 2011. "Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd ("Swiss Re") ...

family of companies, with approximately 600 employees. Owing to the many corporate enterprises, the municipality is free from debt and even has accumulated a large reserve.

Sports

Unterföhring is the smallest community in Germany with an own

Rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

club. The RC Unterföhring e.V. was founded in 2012 and already fields two XVs in the 2nd Bundesliga and in the Verbandsliga Bayern. After its promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga in 2017 it became the first club in German rugby history to ever come from a village and play in Rugby-Bundesliga. Paying foreign players has helped keeping the team in the 2nd Bundesliga.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Unterfohring Municipalities in Bavaria