Munich’s 850th Birthday
The origin of the City of Munich goes back to the 8th century.
Munich’s 850th Birthday, officially on June 14th 2005.
Munich was a small monastic settlement known as “bei den Munichen” (by the monks). The actual founder of Munich was “Duke Henry the Lion”. He destroyed a toll bridge over the Isar river near Freising, that used to carry the salt trade and built another one in “Munichen”. This redirected the wagons over his bridge, were he collected the toll. Today that is called a competitive advantage.
The Bishop of Freising complained and Emperor Frederick Barberosse called a Reich-Council meeting in Augsburg on June 14th 1155 and confirmed the Dukes action. This became the official birthday ( Geburtstag ) for the City of Munich. Each year Munich celebrates this anniversary with a two day festival.
For the Munich’s 850th Birthday celebrations, the big news in 2005 was the closing and dismantling of all the market stalls due to a hurricane warning. Normally the stalls are open until 22.00pm but at 19.00pm the police told all stallholders to pack up and go home. The storm did come, but no damage was reported. By Sunday morning everything was re-assembled and the celebrations resumed.
The main area for the celebrations was in Marienplatz, Weinstrasse, and the Odeonsplazt, with craft stalls, music, and plenty of beer and food available. The motto for the birthday was “Building bridges” which connects the founding of the city with today’s lively, and tradition-oriented culture.
You might like to see the 840th Birthday Pictures