The Münchner Freiheit (called ''Münchener Freiheit'' until 1998) is a square in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Schwabing Schwabing is a borough in the northern part of Munich, the Capital (political), capital of the Germany, German state of Bavaria. It is part of the city borough 4 (Schwabing-West) and the city borough 12 (Schwabing-Freimann). The population of Sc ...

, near the

English Garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal ...

. It is a popular tourist attraction, especially during winter when one of Munich's largest

Christmas market A Christmas market is a street market associated with the celebration of Christmas during the four weeks of Advent. These markets originated in Germany, but are now held in many countries. Some in the U.S. have Phono-semantic matching, adapted ...

s takes place. The square's

Munich U-Bahn The Munich U-Bahn () is an Railway electrification system, electric rail Rapid transit, rapid transit network in Munich, Germany. The system began operation in 1971, and is operated by the municipally owned Münchner Verkehrsgesellschaft (MVG; Mun ...

station is Münchner Freiheit. A German pop group, Münchener Freiheit, derived their name from the location, and have retained the original spelling.

Origin of the name

The square at

Leopoldstraße Leopoldstraße is a street in the Munich districts Maxvorstadt, Schwabing and Milbertshofen. It is a major boulevard, and the main street of the Schwabing district. It is a continuation of Ludwigstraße, the boulevard of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, ...

was originally known as Feilitzsch Platz, after a Bavarian interior minister. In 1933 it was renamed ''Danziger Freiheit'' or "Danzig freedom", in expression of the wish to see the city of Danzig returned to German rule. In tribute to an anti-Nazi resistance group, Freiheitsaktion Bayern, who had taken over two Munich radio towers in 1945, the name ''Münchener Freiheit'' or "Munich freedom" was selected following the war. The alternative spelling ''Münchner Freiheit'' was adopted by the city council in 1998 though ''Münchener Freiheit'' remains popular.

References

Squares in Munich {{Bavaria-geo-stub