Glyptothek
The museum a Bavarian king built so he could give Munich its own ancient Athens — using the real thing.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Munich offline.
Ludwig I commissioned this neoclassical hall in 1816 and spent the next two decades having agents scour Europe for originals — pediment sculptures from an actual Greek temple, a sleeping Hellenistic faun. It is Munich's oldest public museum. Inside, the bare lightly-plastered brick walls are a WWII consequence: the colorful frescoes by Cornelius and Kaulbach that once covered every surface did not survive, and were not restored when the museum reopened in 1972.
What to look for
- The Barberini Faun, a Hellenistic reclining figure Ludwig acquired for the collection
- Pediment figures from the Aphaea temple on Aegina, sourced by Ludwig's agents in 1813
- The bare brick walls — where elaborate painted frescoes once ran before WWII
On the north side of Königsplatz, part of Munich's Kunstareal museum cluster; a major renovation completed summer 2021.
Glyptothek is one of 37 sights worth the detour in Munich, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Munich pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Munich
- Allianz ArenaThe world's first stadium with a full color-changing exterior — 75,000 seats wrapped in inflated ETFE plastic panels that can change color across the entire facade.
- Deutsches Museum125,000 objects across 50 fields of science and technology — all on a former coal island in the Isar.
- Nymphenburg PalaceAt 632 metres across, this Baroque summer palace is wider than Versailles — and it started as a birth announcement.
- Alte PinakothekThe gallery that taught Europe how to build a museum — then filled it with five centuries of Old Masters.
- FrauenkircheThe twin towers top out at just over 98 meters — Munich caps the entire city at 99 m, so nothing can overtake them on the skyline.
- Englischer GartenA Massachusetts-born American Loyalist, fleeing Britain after the Revolution, drew up plans for what became one of the world's largest urban parks.