Bavarian National Museum

The Bavarian National Museum in Munich is a major cultural-history museum focused on decorative arts, sculpture and regional history; it was founded in 1855. The museum’s holdings cover objects from the medieval period through the nineteenth century and illustrate Bavarian and Central European material culture.

Visitors encounter extensive displays of furniture, textiles, porcelain, silver and religious sculpture, along with reconstructed historic interiors that show court and domestic settings. The museum organizes temporary exhibitions and scholarly catalogues to complement the permanent collections.

Originally established in the mid-19th century to assemble and display Bavaria’s artistic and historic holdings, the museum’s current main building dates from the late 19th century and was designed to house large decorative-arts collections. Over time the institution expanded its exhibition and conservation facilities and developed specialist departments for textiles, arms and folk art.

Located on Prinzregentenstraße in Munich’s Bogenhausen district, the museum lies east of the city centre and is a short tram ride from central Munich and other cultural sites along the Isar River.

• Founding and building: Founded by King Maximilian II of Bavaria as a public museum in 1855 and occupying a purpose-built late 19th-century building completed around 1900.

What to See #

• Decorative arts collection: Large decorative-arts galleries presenting European furniture, porcelain, silver and applied arts spanning the Middle Ages through the early 20th century.
• Historic rooms: Historic rooms and period interiors reconstructed to show domestic and court settings from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century.
• Sculpture and painting galleries: Collections of sculpture and painting that include works from the medieval period to the nineteenth century, with particular emphasis on Bavarian cultural history.
• Specialist departments: Specialist departments for textiles, arms and armour and folk art that present material culture relevant to Bavarian and Central European history.