Munich audio guide: the stories of its sights

From the wood of a ruined roof, violins were made.

That is the story of the Frauenkirche in Munich, the Church of Our Lady. It is a late Gothic brick church in the old town, and one of the city's landmarks. Building began in 1468 under Jörg von Halspach, and the church was consecrated in 1494. Since 1821 it has been the cathedral of the Archbishop of Munich and Freising. Then came the war. Air raids between 1943 and 1945 badly damaged the church, and part of the vaulted ceiling collapsed.

The roof timbers were destroyed. But the wood was not simply thrown away. From it, string instruments were made, known as the Domgeigen, the cathedral violins. The carved figures from the choir stalls were luckier still. They had been moved out of the church beforehand, and so they survived. Today the church has another tale at its entrance. There, a square floor slab holds what looks like a footprint, the Teufelstritt, the Devil's Footstep.

According to legend, the master builder sought the Devil's help. The Devil agreed, but only on one condition: that the church would have no windows.

Imagine a quiet Munich park, and then one summer the lawns fill up with "Gammler", the German word for the drifters and hippies of the time.

They lay down on every meadow they could find. This is the Englischer Garten, the English Garden, in Munich. It covers 3.75 square kilometres and is one of the largest city parks in the world. Karl Theodor ordered it by decree on 13 August 1789, as a park for the people. The park rules were clear. There was one marked sunbathing lawn, and that was where people were meant to lie.

But the newcomers ignored it. They spread out over all the meadows, especially the hill below the Monopteros, the little columned temple that crowns it. In 1972, the park administration gave way. It changed how it looked after the grounds and opened the meadows to everyone. They were now cut as lawns. Two areas were set aside for nude sunbathing. All of this helped make the park famous around the world as a symbol of Munich's openness.

Today around 5 million people visit every year. At the Chinesischer Turm, the Chinese Tower, you will find the second largest beer garden in Munich, with 7,000 seats. And there is a children's carousel with 20 carved wooden animals, turning to the music of a barrel organ.

On 2 August 1948, angry Münchners stormed the Viktualienmarkt in Munich and pelted the traders with their own food.

People soon called it the egg battle of the Viktualienmarkt. The Viktualienmarkt is a permanent food market in the old town of Munich. It has been held every day since 1807, except on Sundays and public holidays. Its name is pronounced "Fiktualienmarkt", by the way. In the Second World War, air raids badly damaged the square. A few years later, prices were high, and people were furious.

That August day in 1948, their anger boiled over. They rushed the stalls and threw the goods back at the people selling them. Today the market is both a place where Münchners do their shopping and a sight for visitors. It has 107 traders, selling bread, fish, meat and much more. And on Shrove Tuesday, the market women hold their dance, a highlight of Munich's carnival.

The roof of the Olympiapark in Munich was meant to be pulled down once the Olympic Games were over.

Yet it was this roof that won the design competition in the first place. It was a transparent tent roof, unusual and daring. Nobody had settled whether it could actually be built. But it carried the day all the same. The Olympiapark is a city park in Munich. It was the setting for the 1972 Olympic Games. The roof is made of Plexiglas, which lets the light through, and it hangs from 58 steel masts.

It covers 74,800 square metres. The plan was always to take it down after the Games. Then the world's press weighed in. Reporters saw in this airy roof the very spirit of the "light Games", as they called them. That response stopped the demolition. Today the park still hosts sport, culture and other events. Around 4 million visitors come each year for about 350 of them.

The Olympic swimming hall is a public pool. And in summer, open-air concerts are held on the Seebühne, the small lake stage.