Alter Hof

The Alter Hof in the center of Munich is the former imperial residence of Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor and consists of five wings: Burgstock, Zwingerstock, Lorenzistock, Pfisterstock and Brunnenstock. Like most of the old town, it was rebuilt after being destroyed in World War II.HistoryArcheological excavations have shown that a castle already existed there in the 12th century. After the first partition of Bavaria in 1255 the Alte Hof became the residence of Louis II, Duke of Bavaria in the then very northeastern part of the city. The castle was the first permanent imperial residence in the Holy Roman Empire under his son Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor. The St. Lorenz Chapel at the north side, which was demolished in the 19th century, once housed the regalia of the House of Wittelsbach.After some uprisings the castle became too unsafe and in the course of an extension of the town, together with the construction of a new, double-ring wall, the Wittelsbach dukes once again chose the very northeastern corner as the construction site for a ducal keep. Consequently, as it was newly erected, the castle was called "Neuveste", new fortress. Over the course of centuries the building at this site would eventually develop into what is nowadays the Residenz. When Duke Sigismund lived in the Alter Hof at the end of the fifteenth century and made further structural alterations, including painting in the courtyard with lozenge-shaped decoration, the actual residence was already the Neuveste. In the first half of the 16th century Duke William IV, finally transferred the residence permanently to the Neuveste. Thus, from the 16th century onwards the old castle was only seat of several governmental departments including the stewardship.