Former royal-palace-turned-museum, Residenz München, open Mondays. Photo courtesy of Heather Cowper via Flickr.
Travel around Europe long enough and you will soon discover an annoying quirk of many major museums on the continent: they’re usually closed on Mondays. But not all of them. If you want to start off your week with some culture in Munich, here are five places to do it.
You’ll have to phone for an appointment, but it’s worth the effort to view this private contemporary art collection housed in an elegant Herzog & de Meuron-designed building. Installations, video art and even ye olde paintings await.
Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung
This exhibition space is right in the heart of town, in another Herzog & de Meuron building (that Swiss firm clearly doesn’t take Mondays off). It only houses temporary exhibitions – past subjects include everything from ancient Korean art to modern masters.
Occupying its own island in the River Isar, this enormous museum concentrates on science and technology, with a dedicated “Kids’ Kingdom” for the delight of the young and curious. Two separate branches of the museum deal with air and ground travel.
Bavaria has been king-free for almost a century, but the royal palace is still there for you to visit. Various rulers have left their marks over the centuries to create a 3D tutorial in architecture and decoration. Don’t miss the crown jewels or the perspective illusion of the “Black Room” (whose name is another trick – the room is mostly white).
The Alte Pinakothek might be catching up on its beauty sleep on Mondays, but its more modern equivalent is open to all. An exhibition of the great British equestrian painter, George Stubbs, takes up much of the first half of 2012, while the prestigious permanent collection embraces everything from the Romantic period onward.
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December 29, 2011 by Viator
Local Recommendations, Things To Do, Travel Tips