Herzog-Max-Palais

The Herzog-Max-Palais was a neoclassical palace in Munich, built between 1828 and 1830 for Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria. It stood on Ludwigstraße, between what are now Oskar-von-Miller-Ring and Rheinbergerstraße. The palace belonged to the Wittelsbach family and housed a theatre, café, and a large library. Duke Maximilian’s daughter, Duchess Elisabeth, later Empress of Austria, was born there in 1837. Leo von Klenze designed the building for Ludwig I of Bavaria’s brother-in-law. The palace was demolished in 1937 under Nazi urban plans to widen the street. A new neoclassical building for the Reichsbank was begun in 1938 by Heinrich Wolff and finished in 1951 for the Deutsche Bundesbank. Carl Sattler completed the work, and today the Bundesbank’s Bavarian headquarters occupy the site. A plaque marks the palace’s former location as the birthplace of Empress Elisabeth. Architect Erwin Schleich called it “probably the most beautiful aristocratic palace” Leo von Klenze created. Visitors to the site find a modern neoclassical building housing the Bundesbank. The plaque on the façade recalls the palace and its famous resident. The surrounding Ludwigstraße remains a grand boulevard lined with historic architecture. Nearby streets still bear the names of the original blocks it once filled. The memory of the palace lives on in the commemorative plaque and the street layout.