Neues Rathaus, Munich

Neues Rathaus is the town hall forming the northern edge of Marienplatz, and it still houses Munich’s city government. Georg von Hauberrisser created this richly ornamented building between 1867 and 1905, using a neo-Gothic design. Look across the long façade: its stonework and brick surface carry rulers, saints, legendary figures, masks, and local characters.

The decoration includes almost the complete Wittelsbach ruling line in Bavaria, making it the most extensive princely series on a German town hall. A prominent equestrian monument to Prince Regent Luitpold marks the façade, while the tower is crowned by the Münchner Kindl. The tower reaches 85 metres and contains the fifth-largest clockwork in Europe.

Its 43 bells set 32 figures in motion: they present the Schäfflertanz and a knightly tournament connected with the 1568 wedding of Duke Wilhelm V and Renata of Lorraine. The building grew in stages because the earlier town hall no longer offered enough room. Its final section was completed in 1905, and the municipal offices moved in by the end of 1906. The result is not merely a working government building, but a vast civic story told in stone, glass, and moving figures.