Munich

Munich is a city in and the state capital of Bavaria in Germany. Its German name is München.

One of the oldest chartered cities in Bavaria, It has several important art museums, among them the Alte Pinakothek and Neue Pinakothek. It was also the site of the Blaue Reiter group of artists before World War I. Other famous tourist attractions include the English Garden, a formal garden park roughly in the center of the city, and the Deutsches Museum, the Rathaus Glockenspiel, an ornate clock with moving figures atop the town hall. Perhaps Munich's most famous attraction to the otherwise culturally ignorant is the Oktoberfest, a 2-week-long celebration of beer running from late September to early October each year.

Other famous buildings in Munich include the Frauenkirche (translated women's church) and Olympic Tower. The Olympic tower is a radio and TV broadcasting station.

The Olympiaturm recalls the 1972 Summer Olympics held in Munich, during which terrorist gunmen from the Palestinian "Black September" group took hostage members of the Israeli olympic team. A rescue attempt by the West German government was unsuccessful, and resulted in the deaths of the Israeli hostages, 5 of the terrorists, and one German police officer.

Munich is also the site of BMW's Headquarters.

External links:

• [the city's own website]
• [information on the Oktoberfest] with information in both English and German.

To Do:

• add something about the history of the city -- age, founders, Wittelsbachs, Hitler's Putsch...