The best waterfall hikes and walks around Forstenrieder Park

The Hartmannshofer Park north of the Kapuzinerhölzl was once part of a pheasantry. Today, both of these fairly original forest remnants belong to a protected landscape area. The human intervention is clearly visible in the stream that gives this part its name. It springs from the Pagodenburger See. The restaurant "Fasanerie" probably threw in the towel in 2024. Nevertheless, it is still a beautiful destination for walking and enjoying. "The name of the local beer garden Fasanerie and the building, a former forester's lodge, are reminiscent of the pheasant breeding at Oberer Fasangarten, which Elector Max Emanuel had established there in 1717 and which was continued by the Bavarian kings until the First World War. Only in the 1960s did the Free State of Bavaria convert the area into a park." https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartmannshofer_Park

The Nymphenburger Schlossrondell is a historic, listed ensemble with four courtiers' houses designed by Joseph Effner from the 18th century. From here, there is a spectacular view of the palace, the basin, and the fountain. The houses are partly used for events. The Rondell development, which originated from the two outer buildings and was completed after 1730 under Elector Karl Albrecht, son of Max Emanuel, in front of the main wing, was considered an architectural sensation in its time. Ten palaces are located here, symmetrically divided into two groups of five, which were built between 1728 and 1758 for higher court officials.

Joseph Effner planned the Great Cascade, which was built in 1717. The water falls from a two-part water staircase, the first step of which is semicircular towards the west, and the second, lower step is shaped towards the east. The cascade continues the symmetry through the central channel. Originally, flanking architecture was planned, but it was never executed. Instead, four sculptures of Greek gods were relocated here from the Großer Parterre at the end of the 18th century.

For centuries, the Badenburg at the southeastern end of the Great Lake was the first major building in Europe exclusively dedicated to the purpose of enjoying a comfortable bath. Joseph Effner planned the pleasure palace and built it from 1718 to 1722. In addition to the large bathing hall, which extends over two floors, it also contains a ballroom and an electoral apartment with a bedroom, writing room, and dressing room. The bathing pool, over fifty square meters in size and holding 80,000 liters of water, was unparalleled in its time, not only as a work of art but also in technical terms.

Until the construction of the stone Temple of Apollo between 1862 and 1865, a round wooden temple stood twice on the headland. The first was erected in 1805 for the Elector Princess's birthday. When it had become dilapidated, a slightly larger replacement structure made of larch wood was built in 1818. The current Temple of Apollo, a monopteros with ten columns in the Corinthian style made of grey-beige sandstone, was designed by Leo von Klenze. Inside, there is a marble stele with a dedication from Ludwig I.

The birth of the Bavarian Prince-Elector Max Emanuel from the House of Wittelsbach in 1662 was the occasion for the construction of a palace with a garden in the area between the villages of Neuhausen and Obermenzing as a gift for the young mother, Electorress Henriette Adelaide of Savoy. The foundation stone for the "Schwaigbau zu Nymphenburg" was laid in 1664. The complex was designed as a pleasure palace in the style of Italian country villas; it only became a Baroque palace complex, which could serve as a summer residence and an alternative to the seat of government, the Munich Residenz, a generation later under Max Emanuel. The model for Nymphenburg was the Piedmontese hunting lodge La Venaria, whose architect Amedeo Castellamonte (1613 to 1683) also provided the initial designs for Nymphenburg.

Greek mythology served as the inspiration for the pictorial program of the Nymphenburg Garden, created in the 18th century: The sculptures represent the sixteen main deities of Olympus. However, their placement was changed with the redesign into an English landscape park. Today, only twelve statues remain in the garden parterre; four were moved to the Great Cascade. Male and female deities alternate.

The view of the castle canal from the Ludwig Ferdinand Bridge on the city side clearly shows the dimensions of the monumental three-winged complex of Nymphenburg Palace. From 1715 to 1918, it was the summer residence of the Electors, then of the Kings of Bavaria from the House of Wittelsbach. Nymphenburg is one of the largest palaces in Germany.