13 Munich facts you've probably never heard of

Planning a trip to Bavaria’s beautiful capital? Our Hostel Munich has prepared some funny and interesting Munich Facts that might interest you.

General Munich Facts

Our city’s name “München’’ originates from the old high German word “Munichen’’, which means “by the monks place”, as the city was founded by monks and first mentioned in 1158.
Munich is not only Bavaria’s capital, but also considered as Germany’s beer capital due to its 21 breweries, 22 beer restaurants and the world-famous Oktoberfest.
One of the most surprising Munich Facts is that Munich does not have skyscrapers, compared to other megacities. Even smaller cities such as Cologne or Düsseldorf sport outstanding Skylines. In Munich, the construction of buildings higher than 99 meters is prohibited. That decision was made at a referendum in 2004.
Another interesting fact on our Munich Facts list, is that the city pays great attention to cleanliness – down to every little detail. That’s why all the public bins have bumps on their surface to prevent people from sticking posters onto them.

The technical university in Munich (TUM) installed two four-story slides in their student center. The purpose of the slides is to ensure that the students get to their classes on time.
The most surprising of the general Munich Facts: Beer is not considered an alcoholic beverage in Bavaria but a food.

Munich is home to about 40.000 pigeons. You can mostly meet them in places like the Marienplatz or the Karlsplatz Stachus. Sometimes you can even find them in the underground while waiting for your subway.
Munich is also the home of one of the best-known car manufacturers in the world: BMW. There is even a BMW Museum presenting the history of the brand and its vehicles. One of the most interesting Munich Facts: BMW has got its own postal code: 80788
Munich owns several places and attractions considered “the biggest in the world’’. You can visit the Oktoberfest, which is the world’s biggest folk festival. Learn new stuff about History, science and technology in one of the world’s biggest museums, the Deutsches Museum. Have a picnic, swim or go for a walk in one of the largest inner city parks in the world: Englischer Garten (english garden). Or relax in Erding by Munich, which owns the world’s biggest thermal bath.

One of the funniest Munich Facts: If you look carefully at the frescoes inside the Heilig-Geist-Church you will see a very Bavarian figure among the other religious depictions – a man holding a pretzel.
The so called pretzel rider is a unique figure in Munich’s history. He was a horseman who used to ride through the city at night giving bread to the poor. But the tradition came to an unhappy end in 1801 because the horseman ran out of bread the people became angry and an incensed mob beat him to death.
The architectural style “Jugendstil” was established in Munich. There are several Jugendstil buildings in the city districts of Schwabing, Neuhausen or Haidhausen.
Last but not least the most surprising one of the historical Munich Facts: the oldest building in Munich is not a church or a palace, but a bathroom. During archaeological excavations at the Marienhof, workers found a latrine from the year 1260.

Munich rocks – literally. Here are several notable rock Munich Facts with world famous Artists: Jimi Hendrix smashing up one of his guitars, actually happened for the first time in a night club in Munich. It turned into a routine that he later became famous for. Munich is also the last city Kurt Cobain ever gave a concert at. Moreover Freddie Mercury celebrated his 39th birthday in Club Paradiso in Munich.
And a few final Munich Facts concerning famous personalities. Did you know that world-famous physician Albert Einstein fixed, at the sprightly age of 17, the first light bulbs at the Schottenhamel tent at the Oktoberfest?

We hope that you enjoyed reading the Munich Facts and consider visiting our beautiful city.

We look forward to welcoming you in our hostel.