The Munich Glockenspiel

A few minutes before 11 a.m., the crowd on Marienplatz starts to look up. High up in the New Town Hall's tower, the Munich Glockenspiel starts its show: knights ride out to a tournament, and on the level below, a ring of coopers turns in a dance. Watching costs nothing, and the show tells two chapters of Munich history with bells and moving figures. This guide gives the official performance times, explains what the figures mean and sorts the history from the legend.

Munich Glockenspiel times

According to the City of Munich, the Glockenspiel plays every day at 11 a.m. and at noon. Between March and October, a third show is added at 5 p.m. Every evening at 9 p.m. there is also a night performance: together with the Angel of Peace and a night watchman, the Münchner Kindl, the child figure from the city's coat of arms, is put to bed with music. One day a year the bells stay silent all day: Good Friday.

The city points out that maintenance, technical work or events on the square can change the schedule, so check muenchen.de before a special trip. The address is Marienplatz 8, in the center of the Old Town.

The tournament: a royal wedding in 1568

The upper level recalls a court celebration. In February 1568, Duke Wilhelm V of Bavaria married Renate of Lorraine, and the couple was honored with a joust on Marienplatz. In the tower, two horsemen charge at each other, and the outcome never changes: the Bavarian knight unseats the rider from Lorraine. According to the city, this scene alone has 16 figures.

A sixteenth-century wedding on a building finished in 1905 is less odd than it sounds. The architect Georg von Hauberrisser built the neo-Gothic New Town Hall between 1867 and 1905, in three stages, and its 98.5-meter (323-foot) facade on Marienplatz carries a cycle of rulers' statues, from Henry the Lion, who founded the city, to nearly every Wittelsbach; the city calls it the largest such series on any German town hall. The Glockenspiel continues that history lesson in motion.

The Schäfflertanz: the coopers' dance

On the lower level, the Schäffler, Munich's barrel makers, dance in a circle. The scene draws on a well-known story: after a severe plague, the coopers supposedly dared to venture out before anyone else, cheering up a frightened population with their dance. The city tells it in exactly that way, as something people say.

While the tower figures dance every day, the real dance is rare: according to the city, live dancers perform it in Munich only every seven years. The tune is part of the bells' repertoire, too. In nine months of the year, the program includes either the first or the second part of the Schäfflertanz melody.

Bells, music and technology

The Glockenspiel has 43 bells weighing about seven metric tons together (roughly 15,400 pounds), which the city counts among the largest carillons in Germany. The tunes change with the season and are played from several cylinders; each performance uses a set of four pieces. May and October bring a beer waltz, and December and Advent have their own program that includes O Tannenbaum. At the 9 p.m. night show you hear Brahms's lullaby and the night watchman's call from Wagner's opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

A major overhaul in 2007 cleaned and restored the bells and gave them their first new tuning in nearly a century. The mechanism now runs on solar power.

The Münchner Kindl and the tower view

At the very top of the 85-meter (279-foot) tower stands the Münchner Kindl, the city's emblem. The sculptor Anton Schmid created it, using his son Ludwig, then nine, as the model. How a monk on the city seal became the Kindl is told on our German page about Munich's symbols.

You do not need to climb stairs to see the view: two elevators take visitors up, the first to the fourth floor, the second to the observation deck. The city lists the tower as open every day from 10 a.m., with the final ride up at 7:40 p.m. and closing at 8 p.m., and tickets from 7 euros for a 20-minute slot, with no more than 30 people on the platform at once. Backpacks and large bags are not allowed up top. The tower is closed on 1 and 6 January, Shrove Tuesday, 1 May, 1 November and 25 and 26 December.

Tips for watching the Glockenspiel

• Where to stand: step back from the facade. The city recommends the middle of the square or a spot toward the Mariensäule, the Marian column, rather than right under the tower.
• When to go: Marienplatz gets crowded fast around 11 a.m. and noon, especially in the tourist season, so arrive a few minutes early. The 9 p.m. night show is often quieter; between March and October, 5 p.m. fits nicely into a stroll to the Viktualienmarkt.
• Getting there: all main S-Bahn lines and the U3 and U6 subway lines stop at Marienplatz. From Munich Central Station it is a few minutes by train or 15 to 20 minutes on foot.
• Nearby: Old St. Peter's, the Frauenkirche, the Old Town Hall and the Viktualienmarkt are all within a short walk, and so is the Hofbräuhaus.

Above the tower entrance stand four Bavarian kings, among them King Ludwig II. For Munich's biggest festival, see our Oktoberfest guide; the German counterpart of this page is Das Glockenspiel am Marienplatz.