Führerbau

The Führerbau stands in Munich’s Maxvorstadt district on Arcisstrasse. Built between 1933 and 1937, it was designed by Paul Ludwig Troost, Hitler’s favoured architect, and completed by Leonhard Gall after Troost’s death. The building formed part of a grand remodelling of Königsplatz, alongside two neo-Classical temples that housed the remains of the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch dead. A matching structure opposite served as the Nazi Party’s administration building. Today the Führerbau belongs to the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, while the opposite building holds the Museum of Casts of Classical Statues and the Central Institute for Art History. During the Nazi era the Führerbau became a symbol of Hitler’s power. It was here that the 1938 Munich Agreement was signed, forcing Czechoslovakia to surrender the Sudetenland without Czech representation. A memorial in German, Czech and Slovak now marks the spot. After the war American forces used the building as the Zentrale Sammelstelle, storing looted art returned from across Europe. From 2005 to 2011 Stolpersteine were installed in the entrance hall before being removed for fire safety reasons. Visitors approach the Führerbau through Maxvorstadt’s quiet streets. Inside, the former congress hall serves as a concert venue for the university. The building’s grand staircase and high windows recall its original purpose. Outside, the symmetrical façade and paired structure opposite frame the square. The site remains a place where history is both remembered and performed.