New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus)
Munich's city government built this in neo-Gothic stone specifically to stand apart from the royal family's architecture — civic defiance on the main square.
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Constructed in three phases over nearly four decades (1867–1905), the building grew as Munich bought up surrounding properties block by block. Architect Georg von Hauberrisser modeled the Rathausturm on Brussels' 96-meter Brabantine Gothic tower, giving the city a deliberate international reference point for its own municipal ambition. The keystone of that tower was set in December 1905.
What to look for
- The Rathausturm rising over Marienplatz — its design borrowed directly from Brussels' Brabantine Gothic tower
- The neo-Gothic facade as a whole, chosen to create an architectural contrast with Munich's royal buildings
- The four-sided complex that wraps Marienplatz, Dienerstrasse, Weinstrasse, and Landschaftstrasse — the result of decades of property acquisitions
The building sits on the north side of Marienplatz and still functions as Munich's active city hall, housing the city council and the mayor's offices.
New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus) 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.