Visiting the Munich Residenz – Palace of the Bavarian rulers

The Residenz in Munich is the opulent palace at the heart of the city, former home of the ruling Wittelsbach dynasty. It’s a dazzling blend of Renaissance and Rococo architecture, and we especially enjoyed visiting the Treasury packed full of gold and jewels, the magnificent Antiquarium and charming shell grotto.

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The Residenz encompasses a large complex of buildings, so be sure to allocate enough time to do it justice, or just dip into the things that you enjoy most.

Munich Residenz tickets

Through an archway is the inner courtyard and ticket office, where we picked up an audio-guide that can be used for both the Treasury and the main palace itself. We decided to see the Treasury or Schatzkammer first as it was the shorter of the two, taking about 30 mins to look around.

Coats and larger bags should be left in the free cloakroom, since nothing larger than a handbag is allowed around the palace, which may cause problems if you have a lot of camera equipment to carry.

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The Munich Residenz Treasury

The Treasury houses the crown jewels of Bavaria, from crowns, swords and tiaras, to altar pieces, decorative plates and tableware. Here we found everything that a royal family might need, to impress the court and display their wealth.

The main palace of the Residenz in Munich

Next we visited around the palace itself, where some parts date back to the Renaissance period. One highlight here was the magnificent Antiquarium, a hall with a decorative vaulted ceiling that was used for banquets and receiving guests.

An interesting shell grotto was positioned to one side of an inner courtyard. Here the rooms were in the decorative Rococo style from the 18th century, with plenty of damask, gilding and painted ceilings. Each room displayed a wealth of furniture, portraits and porcelain of the period.

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With hardly any visitors, we practically had the palace to ourselves and it felt a little sterile and empty. After a while we became weary of wandering from one room to another. Gorgeous rococo room followed gorgeous rococo room, but I started to feel like a princess who is desparate to be let out from the gilded cage!

I thought about the stately homes and palaces in England, where so much effort is put into bringing the experience to life, with seasonal events and actors in period costume.

There just seemed to be too much splendour and not enough life in the Residenz. It was was difficult to imagine that it was once full of people, activity and the excitement of the Bavarian court.

A break for Kaffe and Kuchen

After we’d spent a couple of hours in the Residenz, we were ready to sit down and found a rather nice coffee shop just round the corner. We relaxed for an hour with our Kaffee und Kuchen, and admired all the Christmas chocolates, stollen and iced gingerbread on sale in the shop.

After that we took a look at the famous Cuvilliés Court Theatre, also created in the 1750s. This was also included in the ticket and was tucked away in the courtyards of the Residenz. The best thing about tour, was that we discovered a lovely, atmospheric Christmas market in the courtyard of the Residenz. We decided to go back to this the next day.

Read about or listen to my podcast episode from the Munich Christmas Markets

If you love beautiful palaces, portraits and decoration, you’ll enjoy seeing the Residenz, but it did feel more of a museum than a former home of kings. Perhaps it would have more atmosphere in the summer that it did on a quiet winter’s afternoon.

Find out more on the website of the Munich Residenz

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Where to stay in Munich

Find the best deals for hotels in Munich or check our recommendations below – we’ve personally stayed at both hotels!

The guidebook I used on this trip was the pocket sized Dorling Kindersley, Eyewitness Top 10 guide to Munich, which I found ideal for sightseeing if you are there for a short time.

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com

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