Marienplatz

The Marienplatz is defined by the stone column of Saint Mary rising from its center, topped with a gilded statue of the Virgin Mary holding the Christ child. Since eleven fifty-eight, this square served as the primary marketplace for Munich. In sixteen thirty-eight, Elector Maximilian the First ordered the column built to fulfill a vow of gratitude after surviving the Thirty Years War. He believed Mary protected the city from the Swedish army, so he placed her at the heart of the trade route.