Bavarian Stories

In this blog you find all my pictures and stories about facts and interesting people, habits, citys and traditions of my home state.

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Mounting a maypole. The guys from Putzbrunn, a small village near Munich, do it the old fashioned way: by muscle force.

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The maypole is made of spruce, it’s 34 meters long and weighs four tons. Every five years the good citizens of Putzbrunn put up a new one.

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It’s always a big celebration. There is live brass music and some dancing. Every grade the pole gets more upright is cheered and applauded.

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The work is fueled by sweat and of course remarkable amounts of beer. Other villages use cranes nowadays. I do consider that unacceptable.

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This is the moment when the maypole reaches its final position.

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The Mountain Shooters Company parades and fires a triple salute.

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That’s the maypole in all its beauty. Next days it will be decorated with signs of craftspeople and guilds, a wreath and a Bavarian flag.

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Bavarian Story 26: The Order of the Temple - you've surely heard of the infamous medieval knights and crusaders. Their heirs live in Munich.

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This fairytale building is the monastery of the order. And it’s a mystery to most people in Munich too. Only few know about it at all.

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The monastery was built in 1880. It used to be the mansion of the wealthy goldsmith of the Bavarian kings. In 1968 the order acquired it.

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History:

The last official grandmaster of the Templers Jacques de Molay was sentenced to the stake and died burning in 1314. Pope Clemens V. declared the Templers heretics and banned them. Do you remember the movie “Kingdom of Heaven” with Orlando Bloom? The Templers were the bad guys.

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Back to presence: The Templers now live a pious life of prayers and help for the poor. Every day they feed people in need in the monastery.

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The pope’s medieval ban on the Templers hasn’t been lifted by now. But no worries, burning people isn’t very familiar in modern Bavaria.

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Doesn't it look a bit like Hogwarts? But there is no magic happening here. This is the magnificent Palace of Justice in Munich.

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It was built in 1897 in neo-baroque style. Today it houses the Bavarian Constitutional Court and the Ministry of Justice.

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The statue shows prince regent Luitpold von Bayern. On rare occasions the stairways are used as an exclusive party location.

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But there were also very dark hours. In 1943 the brave student partisans Hans and Sophie Scholl were sentenced to death here by the Nazis.