Oberschleißheim: Baroque Palace Rooms and Aviation History

Oberschleißheim offers culture-minded travelers several distinct themes to explore: Baroque palace architecture, religious festival and everyday culture, and aviation and space travel. The differences lie not only in the names of the places, but also in the nature of the experience: grand rooms, collection objects and visible restoration work each provide a different focus. This makes it possible to plan your stay around your personal interests, rather than grouping all your visits under a single palace theme.

Baroque palace rooms and their distinctive character

The Old Schleissheim Palace is considered a major work of the early Baroque in Bavaria. Its more than 200 rooms and the Wilhelmskapelle are among the building’s distinctive features. Its scale makes the palace a different architectural subject from a single sequence of grand rooms: here, the palace as a whole takes center stage, while the chapel provides a distinct religious dimension. Those interested in architectural history will find a clear point of entry into Oberschleißheim’s cultural offerings.

At New Schleissheim Palace, the focus is more strongly on the ceremonial sequence of interior rooms. The layout includes the Grand Staircase, the Festival Hall, the Victoria Hall and the Great Gallery, as well as the Elector’s and Electress’s state apartments. Their sumptuous decoration and furnishings are among the most significant interiors in Baroque palace architecture. The Bavarian State Painting Collections display masterpieces of European Baroque painting in the state rooms. Architecture, furnishings and paintings can therefore be appreciated as distinct yet coexisting aspects of the palace. New Schleissheim Palace is especially appealing to travelers interested in Baroque interior design and painting.

Lustheim Palace offers another perspective. It was built in 1685 to mark the marriage of the Bavarian Elector to the Emperor’s daughter, Maria Antonia, and stands on an artificial island in the palace park. More than 2,000 exquisite porcelain pieces are displayed in the setting of the former Electoral pleasure palace; the collection forms a particularly charming Baroque ensemble. Unlike the grand state rooms of New Schleissheim Palace, the focus here is on the porcelain collection, while the former pleasure palace provides its historical setting.

Collections spanning everyday culture and aviation

The permanent exhibition at the Old Schleissheim Palace presents a different kind of collection. In 250 display cases, it features more than 6,000 individual objects relating to the religious festival and everyday culture of peoples around the world. The figures convey the scale of the collection; for its thematic context, the breadth between festive occasions and everyday practices is particularly important. Visitors who enjoy exploring cultural history through tangible objects will find an approach here that differs from looking at paintings or porcelain: the focus is on religious ways of life and their material expressions.

The Schleissheim Aviation Museum focuses on the history of aviation and space travel and is part of the German Museum’s center for these subjects. One special insight for visitors is the opportunity to observe ongoing restoration work from a gallery and through a glazed restoration workshop. This makes the restoration process visible alongside the historical subject matter. The experience differs from the presentation of courtly rooms, paintings or porcelain and offers a distinct focus for travelers interested in technological history and restoration processes.

Discover more destinations: Aying, Schäftlarn, Brunnthal, Sauerlach, Putzbrunn, Oberhaching, Garching bei München, Unterföhring.

For the broader travel overview: Munich.