Munich and Hamburg: the Frauenkirche, the Residenz and the Speicherstadt (100 Days in Europe, Part 16)
Part 16 of the 100 Days in Europe travel journal. Days 11 and 12 belong to Munich; Day 16 — after the Amsterdam interlude — brings a cold, bright December day in Hamburg. As in every part of this series, the diary is quoted exactly as it was written on the road in December 2019, spelling and all, and then checked against what official sources say today.
What the diary says
From Day 11, Munich:
“Our first stop of the day was KARLSPLATZ ( STACHUS), A big square with a large jet water fountain. And a 15th century Karlstor.”
“The world’s largest barrel vault in the world is here.” — on the Church of St. Michael
“It is as a matter of fact the largest brick cathedral in northern Europe. Capacity 20000. It was built by the house of Wittlesbach between 1468 – 1488.” — on the Frauenkirche
“The bell tower or the neogothic new town hall contains Germany’s largest glockenspiel with the triumphant Barbarian knight.” — on Marienplatz
“The RESIDENZ is the largest city palace in Germany and used to be the royal palace of Bavarian monarchs.”
“It is one of the largest park in the world.” — on the English Garden
“VIKTUALIENMARKT, a historical Street market of Munich since 1807.”
“It is a Baroque church which was built between 1733 to 1744.” — on the Asam Church
And from Day 16, Hamburg:
“Did you know that Hambourg has more bridges than Amsterdam and Venice?”
“It is the 2nd biggest city after Berlin. Port of Hamburg is the 3rd busiest cargo port in Europe and 19th busiest in the world on Elbe River.”
“Hence, the city literally has a warehouse district. Which happens to be the largest warehouse complex in the world.”
“We tried our best to look around this 147m tower without giving us any neck pain.” — on the church of St. Nikolai
Karlsplatz (Stachus): a 14th-century gate
The diary calls the Karlstor a “15th century” gate. Close, but not quite: according to muenchen.de, the Karlstor was built in the 14th century as part of Munich’s second city fortification. It only received its current name in 1791, when the old Neuhauser Tor was renamed after Elector Karl Theodor. The square itself — known to everyone as Stachus — really does fill with thousands of people when the Christmas market is on, exactly as the diary describes.
St. Michael: the world’s second-largest barrel vault
The diary claims “the world’s largest barrel vault.” The official Munich travel guide munich.travel puts St. Michael’s barrel vault at about 20 metres and calls it the second-largest in the world — an impressive feat for a Renaissance church, but not quite the record. One diary detail does check out: the crypt of St. Michael is the burial place of the Wittelsbachs, including “fairy-tale king” Ludwig II himself, whose sarcophagus the diary correctly places here.
The Frauenkirche: brick, tall — and second again
Munich’s landmark cathedral with its two onion-domed towers really is “the most visible symbol of Munich,” as the diary puts it. But the superlative needs adjusting: the Frauenkirche is generally described as the second-largest brick church north of the Alps, after St. Mary’s Church in Gdańsk (Wikipedia). The construction dates in the diary are nearly right — building started in 1468 and took about twenty years — but the builder was the mason Jörg von Halsbach, commissioned by Duke Sigismund of Bavaria. So “built by the house of Wittelsbach” is true only in the sense that a Wittelsbach duke paid for it. The often-quoted capacity of about 20,000 people is the traditional figure for the hall.
Marienplatz: the Glockenspiel and the Mariensäule
The New Town Hall is indeed Neo-Gothic, and its tower does hold the famous Glockenspiel with its jousting knight — but it is not “Germany’s largest.” munich.travel counts 43 bells and calls it “one of the largest in Europe.” The Mariensäule, the golden Mary column the diary noticed, was erected in 1638 to celebrate the end of the Swedish occupation in the Thirty Years’ War (Wikipedia) — so in December 2019 it was about 381 years old, not “more than 450 years.” The beasts the diary lists at the base — lion, dragon and serpent — are three of the four putti symbolising war, pestilence, famine and heresy; the fourth, the cockatrice, escaped the diary’s attention.
The Residenz and the Hofgarten
Here the diary is on solid ground. muenchen.de calls the Residenz “the largest inner-city palace in Germany,” and it was indeed the seat of the Bavarian rulers for centuries. The Hofgarten next door was created between 1613 and 1617 for Elector Maximilian I as an Italian Renaissance garden (munich.travel) — the diary’s dates are exactly right.
The English Garden
“One of the largest park in the world” — this one survives the fact-check. muenchen.de describes the English Garden as “one of the biggest urban parks in the world.” The Kleinhesselohe lake, where the diary’s authors relaxed with the local ducks, is one of its favourite resting spots.
Viktualienmarkt, the Asam Church and Ohel Jakob
Viktualienmarkt has indeed been Munich’s daily food market since 1807 — confirmed. The Asam Church, that “crazy interior” built by two brothers as a private church, was created by the sculptor Egid Quirin Asam and the painter Cosmas Damian Asam — but between 1733 and 1746, not 1744 (munich.travel). And the Ohel Jakob Synagogue at the edge of the old town was officially inaugurated in November 2006 (munich.travel), so the diary’s “built 2004-2006” is a fair description of the construction years.
Day 12: the long way round to Amsterdam
No fact-checks needed for the train saga. Munich–Frankfurt–Amsterdam was fully booked, so the itinerary became Munich–Hanover–Amsterdam, with an eight-minute connection at Hanover — until the “next-generation” high-speed train broke down in the middle of nowhere, one stop short of Hanover. An hour’s wait, two reserved seats “without a 2nd thought,” a refund envelope from a DB receptionist speaking, as the diary puts it, “100% German,” and finally a packed evening train to Amsterdam. Personal experience is beyond checking; the diary’s account of arriving exhausted — and of a hotel room “perfect for the characters of the Hobbits” — stands as written.
Hamburg: bridges, hamburgers and a 147-metre memorial
“Did you know that Hambourg has more bridges than Amsterdam and Venice?” — the claim is often repeated, and the usual version is even bolder: Hamburg is believed to have more bridges than Venice, London and Amsterdam combined. “Hamburger” as the demonym is correct, and a source of endless delight to the diary. Hamburg is indeed Germany’s second-largest city, and its port ranks among Europe’s busiest — the diary’s “3rd busiest cargo port in Europe” is the commonly cited ranking.
The Rathaus, where the diary’s authors ate crepes with Nutella and banana at the Christmas market, was built between 1886 and 1897 in sandstone Neo-Renaissance style — the diary’s dates are spot on. The Heinrich Hertz Tower they passed on the way is indeed a telecom tower and one of the city’s landmarks. And Planten un Blomen really does contain the largest Japanese garden in Europe, as Hamburg’s official tourism site confirms.
The church of St. Nikolai — “or whatever left of it after the bombing of Hamburg in world war 2” — is the diary’s most sobering stop. The Gothic Revival church was destroyed in Operation Gomorrah, the July 1943 firebombing, and its tower had served Allied bomber crews as a landmark on their way into the city. Today the ruin is a memorial to the victims of war and dictatorship; its 147-metre steeple is Hamburg’s tallest church tower, and an elevator carries visitors to a 76-metre viewing platform (gedenkstaetten-in-hamburg.de). The diary’s “147m tower” is exactly right.
The Speicherstadt: largest, or one of the largest?
The diary calls Hamburg’s warehouse district “the largest warehouse complex in the world.” UNESCO, which inscribed the Speicherstadt on the World Heritage List in 2015, describes it more carefully as “one of the largest coherent historic ensembles of port warehouses in the world,” with about 300,000 square metres of floor space (whc.unesco.org). Either way, walking those canal-side brick facades — as the diary did, all the way to the port and its cargo ships — is one of the great free experiences of Hamburg.
The verdict
Days 11 and 16 were written on the road, from memory and guidebooks, and it shows in the superlatives: the Frauenkirche, St. Michael’s vault and the Glockenspiel are each “second” or “one of the largest” rather than world records, the Karlstor is a century older than remembered, and the Mariensäule is seventy years younger. But the diary’s eye for what matters — a packed Christmas market at Stachus, ducks at Kleinhesselohe, crepes at the Rathaus, the ruined St. Nikolai against the winter sky — was already that of a travel writer. Over 17,000 steps in Munich, by its own count.
Next: Part 17 leaves Hamburg for Berlin — Days 17 to 19, and the diary’s first encounter with the Wall.