Munich, Bavaria – In 2025, the Bavarian Heritage List saw a significant expansion, with 26 new entries from the city of Munich. These additions encompass a diverse range of structures, from a former Nazi-era horse stable to two historic gas stations and the residence of the late art collector Cornelius Gurlitt, highlighting the city’s rich and complex history.
The Significance of Heritage Protection
According to the Duden dictionary, a monument is “a preserved work that bears witness to a former culture.” To safeguard these testimonies for future generations, the Free State of Bavaria maintains the Bavarian Heritage List, a comprehensive catalog of all known architectural and archaeological monuments. This list includes not only buildings but also fountains, bridges, gardens, and wayside crosses. All these structures share a common characteristic: as per the Bavarian Heritage Protection Act, they are human creations from the past whose preservation is in the public interest due to their historical, artistic, urban, scientific, or ethnographic significance.
The decision to include a property on the list rests with the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation (BLfD). General Conservator Mathias Pfeil emphasizes, “Our monuments shape us – as individuals and as a society. Especially in a time of rapid change, we need places that provide stability. As monument protectors, our task is to identify outstanding buildings, protect them, and pass them on to future generations with all their history.”
New Additions to Munich’s Heritage List
Of the more than 110,000 entries on the Bavarian Heritage List, nearly 7,000 are architectural monuments in Munich. In 2025, 26 new ones were added. These include:
- Riem Racetrack Stable: Located between the trotting and gallop racetracks in Riem, this three-winged stable complex is deeply intertwined with Germany’s darkest historical chapter. Originally built for the “Brown Ribbon of Germany,” a Nazi-conceived gallop race, it also served as a training facility for German riders preparing for the 1940 Olympic Games. Due to the war, these games were canceled, and an SS cavalry unit under Hermann Fegelein, a fervent National Socialist and brother-in-law of Eva Braun, moved into the stable. From 1943, the facility on Schichtlstraße was used as an subcamp of the Dachau concentration camp, where hundreds of prisoners were forced to repair the runways of Riem Airport after bombing raids. Despite post-war renovations for the 1972 Olympics, its external design largely remained intact. The BLfD describes it as “an example of Heimatstil-compliant construction during the Nazi dictatorship,” combining traditional Upper Bavarian farmhouse forms with Nazi guidelines for agricultural buildings.
- Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) Studio Building: For years, the BLfD denied the BR studio building a place on the heritage list, citing a lack of necessary criteria. However, when the nine-story building, completed in 1963, faced demolition due to BR’s relocation to Freimann, a citizen initiative, “Save the BR Studio Building,” formed in 2023, gaining support from artists like Gerhard Polt and Konstantin Wecker. The BLfD then surprisingly announced that the monument assessment was not yet complete, and in late 2024, Culture Minister Markus Blume declared a reversal. The BLfD now states that the cube-shaped building, which hosted world-renowned artists and produced the beloved Pumuckl, possesses “historical, artistic, and scientific significance.” It is considered “innovative and exemplary for radio buildings of its time,” particularly for its “technically and acoustically outstanding studio halls, conceived as a unit with the surrounding building concept.”
- Gas Stations in Laim and Schwanthalerhöhe: Two former Munich gas stations were added to the heritage list in 2025. The building at Lutzstraße 38, now a car repair shop, dates back to 1935 and is considered the oldest recorded architectural monument of a gas station in Bavaria. It documents the urbanization of Laim and the motorization of Munich up to the 1950s. The Shell service station on Ligsalzstraße, built in 1958, is a testament to Germany’s post-war economic boom and the rise of automobile traffic, characterized by its “filigree, rounded forms and a glass facade with fine frame profiles that reflect the modernity and dynamism of the economic upswing.”
- Kolpinghaus: Located in the heart of the train station district on Adolf-Kolping-Straße, the “Altmünchner Gesellenhaus” restaurant hints at the rich history of its associated building. The Kolpinghaus, built in 1950/51, stands on the site of Bavaria’s first Catholic journeymen’s house, which opened in 1855. After its near-total destruction in World War II, it provided a new “father’s house in a foreign land” for hundreds of young men, offering accommodation, common rooms, workshops, and a chapel. By the late 1950s, with up to 880 residents, it was Germany’s largest Kolpinghaus. The BLfD notes its “restrained-traditional architectural language of the early reconstruction,” calling it a “powerful testament to Christian-inspired social work of the post-war era.”
- Atrium Houses at Biederstein: The atrium houses at Artur-Kutscher-Platz 1 and 2 in Schwabing, according to the BLfD, demonstrate “how living in Munich reinvented itself in the early 1960s.” These square, flat-roofed buildings are perhaps best known for their prominent resident, Cornelius Gurlitt, who lived at Artur-Kutscher-Platz 1. In 2012, approximately 1,300 artworks, some of high value, were confiscated from his apartment on suspicion of being Nazi looted art. Gurlitt, who died in 2014, bequeathed his collection to the Kunstmuseum Bern. His former residence is now on the heritage list as a “prototype of the point house, which became groundbreaking for housing construction in the 1960s.”
- House of the Redemptorists: The Redemptorists, a nearly 300-year-old Catholic order, have their mission to “proclaim the good news to the poor.” Their “House of the Redemptorists” at Kaulbachstraße 47 in Schwabing, built between 1949 and 1950, has been designated a monument. The BLfD considers it “one of the earliest post-World War II sacred new buildings in the city and significant for the development of church architecture.” Its chapel displays a wide stylistic range from traditional to modern, showcasing the productive interplay between architect and client.
These additions underscore Munich’s commitment to preserving its diverse architectural heritage, reflecting various periods of its development and the stories they tell.
Source: [sueddeutsche.de](https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/muenchen-neue-denkmaeler-denkmalliste-2025-li.3356217)
