Streets
Fourteen axes, one grid, two centuries: the streets along which the history of the Maxvorstadt can be read — names, houses, residents.
Fourteen streets, one quarter
Fourteen streets carry the Maxvorstadt. Nine run from south to north — Augustenstraße, Luisenstraße, Arcisstraße, Barer Straße, Türkenstraße, Amalienstraße, the grand axis of Ludwigstraße and, in the Schönfeldvorstadt by the Englischer Garten, Kaulbachstraße and Königinstraße — and five cross them from east to west: Schellingstraße, Theresienstraße, Gabelsbergerstraße, Brienner Straße and Karlstraße. Together they form the grid that Friedrich Ludwig Sckell and Karl von Fischer laid over the fields outside the Schwabing gate after 1808 and that Leo von Klenze continued, and the addresses where Munich history has condensed ever since: barracks and art academy, bohème and beer cellar, university and party headquarters, Pinakotheken and student pubs, State Library and Kammerspiele, palaces and villas.
Each street has its own page: where the name comes from, how it was built up, which house numbers matter, who lived and worked here — with a chronicle and references from the Maxvorstadt Vibes library. The map is schematic; to walk the streets, see our walks.
Türkenstraße
From the Kunstareal to a strip of pubs: the street of the Elf Scharfrichter cabaret, the Simplicissimus, the Türkenkaserne and small shops.
Read → № 02 · named 1857 · 1,9 kmSchellingstraße
University street, bohemian pub row, “birthplace of the Movement” and street of the 1968 Easter riots: the east–west axis of the student quarter.
Read → № 03 · named 1812 · 1,5 kmTheresienstraße
The Maxvorstadt's long east–west axis between the university, the Pinakotheken and the Technical University – once a street of barracks and artists with the Café Größenwahn, today a museum mile and home to Munich's first residential high-rise by Sep Ruf.
Read → № 04 · named 1826 · 1,6 kmBarer Straße
The Maxvorstadt's museum axis: between Karolinenplatz and Nordendstraße the Alte and Neue Pinakothek, the Pinakothek der Moderne and Gründerzeit façades line the tram route – and in between lie Lola Montez's palais, the Nazi party quarter and the lodgings of Thomas Mann, Duchamp and Oskar Maria Graf.
Read → № 05 · named 1812 · 1,45 kmLuisenstraße
Long north–south axis from the main station past Königsplatz to the Alter Nordfriedhof, lined by the Luisengymnasium, the Heyse villa, the Lenbachhaus and the TU München.
Read → № 06 · named 1812 · 830 mAmalienstraße
The street behind the university: antiquarian bookshops, cafés and a dense run of surviving Historicist façades, from the Café Stefanie to the Klingenbeck memorial, the "Witwe Bolte" and the Amalienpassage – and the cradle of the Wienerwald chain.
Read → № 07 · named 1822 · 1,0 kmLudwigstraße
Ludwig I's grand boulevard from Odeonsplatz to the Siegestor: Klenze's palace façades in the south, Gärtner's round-arched buildings in the north – with State Library, Ludwigskirche and University.
Read → № 08 · named 1812 · 1,33 kmAugustenstraße
The westernmost grid street of the Maxvorstadt: from the Dolphin Fountain on Dachauer Straße to St Joseph's Church – birthplace of the Münchner Kammerspiele, residential street and café strip.
Read → № 09 · named 1862 · 1,35 kmGabelsbergerstraße
A long east–west axis from St Mark's on the inner ring road to Dachauer Straße, lined by the Pinakothek der Moderne, the Alte Pinakothek, the Egyptian Museum, the film school and the TUM – with a forgotten Nazi building project beneath it.
Read → № 10 · named 1808 · 1,46 kmKöniginstraße
Leafy edge road along the English Garden: from the Prinz-Carl-Palais past the US Consulate General, Schönfeld villas and the veterinary clinic into Schwabing, home to Allianz and Munich Re.
Read → № 11 · named 1826 · 1,4 kmBrienner Straße
From princes' road to grand boulevard: from Odeonsplatz via Wittelsbacherplatz, Karolinenplatz and Königsplatz to Stiglmaierplatz – palaces, Nazi Party headquarters and a place of remembrance on one axis.
Read → № 12 · named 1826 · 1,4 kmArcisstraße
From Königsplatz to the Alter Nordfriedhof: the Pringsheim mansion and the Führerbau, the Munich Agreement and the Collecting Point, the TU Munich and the Pinakotheken – a street full of ruptures.
Read → № 13 · named 1808 · 1,3 kmKarlstraße
Long east–west axis from Lenbachplatz to the Marsfeld: St Boniface with the tomb of Ludwig I, neoclassical apartment houses, the Nazi party quarter, help for the homeless and Apple's chip centre "Karl".
Read → № 14 · named 1887 · 1,45 kmKaulbachstraße
Villa street of the old Schönfeld suburb between the State Library and the English Garden: Kaulbach Villa, Institut français, the School of Philosophy – and addresses of feminists, bohemians and Nazi power.
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