The Maximilianeum in Munich
Seat of the Bavarian State Parliament
The Bavarian State Parliament is one of the oldest parliaments in Germany and in Europe. Today it has its seat in one of the most beautiful parliament buildings, the Maximilianeum. Even when he was still crown prince, King Maximilian II of Bavaria planned to erect a big national building on the Isar Heights near Munich “to improve the monarchist national spirit of the people”. Soon the idea of an “Athenaeum” was added, an institution with the aim to make it easier for “Bavarian talented young men (from every status in life) to achieve such a level of scientific and intellectual education which is necessary for the solving of more difficult tasks of the civil service”. In 1852 the “Athenaeum” (which was finally named “Maximilianeum” after its founder in 1857) was temporarily housed in a rented building. Six high-school graduates from Bavaria and the Palatinate were chosen and they were able to study law and political sciences without having any financial worries.
The Maximilianeum was created when the city of Munich was extended to the east. Maximilian II had a new avenue built, which was later called Maximilianstraße. In order to give this avenue a uniform appearance, Maximilian II had his own architectural style developed. The so-called Maximilian style was based on the Anglo-Saxon Neo-Gothic which was supplemented with various elements from all the art epochs.
King Maximilian II (died 1864) did not live to see the completion of the institute building in the year 1874, and the Foundation only received its legal form under his son, King Ludwig II. According to the official document of 1876, the Maximilianeum building, as well as a gallery with historic paintings and marble busts, belong to the Foundation up to the present day. After the end of the monarchy in 1918, the protectorate of the Maximilianeum went to the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich. This has remained so up to the present day. Since 1980, the “Wittelsbach Jubilee Foundation” also awards scholarships to talented young women from Bavaria. Since the foundation of the institute, about 800 male and female students have enjoyed the advantages of both foundations (www.maximilianeum.de). All of the students receiving a scholarship – at the moment there are a total of 50, 17 of them are women – are accommodated beneath the roof of the Maximilaneum.
After the Bavarian Constitution came into force and the first state election took place in December 1946, Parliament, which had been dissolved in 1934 under the National Socialist dictatorship, commenced its work once more. At first it met in Munich University, in the Brunnenhof Theatre of the Residenz and in the Sophiensaal of the Oberfinanzdirektion (regional finance office) until in 1949 it was able to move into the renovated Maximilianeum, together with the Bavarian Senate, which was abolished in a referendum on 31st December 1999. Since then, due to a tenancy and building lease agreement, many rooms and parts of the grounds are used by the Bavarian State Parliament, whose original building in Pranner Street in Munich was destroyed in the Second World War.
