Altstadt and Lehel are districts of the German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 city of Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

. Together they form the first borough of the city: Altstadt-Lehel.

Location

The borough covers the historical area of Altstadt (as defined by the Altstadtring

Altstadtring

Altstadtring is located in Maxvorstadt, Munich, Bavaria, Germany....

) and the Lehel area, which is attached to Altstadt via the north east. It also covers the Isar

Isar

The Isar is a river in Tyrol, Austria and Bavaria, Germany. Its source is in the Karwendel range of the Alps in Tyrol; it enters Germany near Mittenwald, and flows through Bad Tölz, Munich, and Landshut before reaching the Danube near Deggendorf. At 295 km in length, it is the fourth largest river...

 in the east and the Englischer Garten as well as Prinzregentenstraße, bordering it in the north.

Altstadt

Since the town extension via Ludwig the Bavarian

Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor

Louis IV , called the Bavarian, of the house of Wittelsbach, was the King of Germany from 1314, the King of Italy from 1327 and the Holy Roman Emperor from 1328....

 lasting from 1285 until 1347, Altstadt consisted of four quarters and an open locale:

• The Kreuzviertel in the north west of Altstadt. Its borders are described roughly as the Kaufingerstraße/Neuhauser Straße in the south and the Weinstraße/Theatinerstraße in the east. Located here was the centre of the clergy as there was a particularly high number of monasteries. The Kreuzviertel which was first mentioned via documents on 29 December 1458 is named after the Kreuzgasse: a street that today roughly corresponds to the Promenadenplatz and the Pacellistraße. The origin of the name is unclear. Other name: Eremitenviertel.

• The Graggenauer Viertel in the north east of Altstadt. Its borders are described roughly as through the valley in the south and Dienerstraße in the west. The gentry preferred to reside here, probably because of the proximity to the Alten Hof. This town quarter was first mentioned on 29 December 1458. The name of the Graggenauer Quarter derives from Graggenau, which in turn has its root in the word "Krack", meaning Raven or Crow. Alternative name is Wilbrechts-Viertel, after the first Viertelhauptmann (translates as "quarter captain"). Until into the 16th century the local tax records considered the area outside the wall up to the modern-day Prinzregentenstrasse as part of Graggenau.

• The Angerviertel in the south east of Altstadt. Its borders are described roughly as through the valley in the north and the Sendling street im the west. Traders predominantly resided here. First mention via documentation of the area is veritable as of 15 September 1508. The name Anger (meaning Meadow) derives from the meadow which was in domain of the modern-day St. Jakobs Platz with the Münchner Stadtmuseum in the old armoury and the new Jewish centre
  Ohel Jakob synagogue
  The Ohel Jakob synagogue was built 2004-2006 as the new main synagogue of the Munich Jewish community, located at Sankt-Jakobs-Platz. The synagogue was inaugurated on November 9, 2006, on the 68th anniversary of Kristallnacht. The opening ceremony was led by Charlotte Knobloch, President of...
  
   (Jüdisches Zentrum München). Another name for the district is Rindermarktviertel, after the former cattle market of the city at the site of the Altstadt on which the Rindermarktbrunnen
  Rindermarktbrunnen
  The Rindermarktbrunnen or literally "Cattle market fountain" in English is a modern sculpture in the historical Altstadt of Munich, in Bavaria, Germany...
  
  , sculptured in 1964 by Josef Hensel, is a reminder of the former significance of the area.

• The Hackenviertel in the south west of Altstadt. Its borders are described roughly as through Kaufingerstraße/Neuhauser street in the north and the Sendling street in the south. Traders also predominantly resided here. The name was first documented on 29 December 1458. On Altheim corner in the Hackenviertel was the area of Altheim, which was included into the area via the defensive wall in around 1285. The name is derived from Hacken, which apart from meaning hoeing or chopping, is also like a closed, fenced in area. (Compare "Hecke", meaning hedge). Alternative name for Hackenviertel is Kramerviertel.

History

Lehel is the oldest suburb of Munich; it was incorporated into the city as of 1724. In the course of the large urban extensions the area was officially named as St.-Anna-Vorstadt (St. Anna suburb) in 1812, in reference to the other suburbs such as Maxvorstadt. However this name did not go down well.

The Lehel has become another area for the arts next to the Kunstareal

Kunstareal

The Kunstareal is a museum quarter in the city centre of Munich, Germany.It consists of the three "Pinakotheken" galleries , the Glyptothek, the Staatliche Antikensammlung , the Lenbachhaus, the Museum Brandhorst and...

: The State Museum of Ethnology

State Museum of Ethnology

The Bavarian State Museum of Ethnology in Munich, Germany is a museum for Non-European artworks and objects of cultural value.-The building:...

in Maximilianstraße is the second largest collection in Germany of artifacts and objects from outside Europe, while the Bavarian National Museum

Bavarian National Museum

The Bavarian National Museum in Munich is one of the most important cultural history museums in Europe.-Building and History:...

and the adjoining State Archeological Collections in Prinzregentenstrasse rank among Europe's major art and cultural history museums. The nearby Schackgalerie

Schackgalerie

The Schackgalerie is a museum in Munich. It is one of the noted galleries in this city. The museum is under supervision of the Bavarian State Picture Collection.-Collection:...

is an important gallery of German 19th century paintings.

Origin of the Name

There are many theories for the origin of the name of this area. The more commonly represented indicates to a connection with the name "Lohe" (meaning blaze and power) for a dwindling alluvial forest, how it was the Munich gravel plain that met with many locations and its remainders can still be found in the spot from Aubing and Eching. Many places names in the area still refer to these forests, for example Lohhof or Keferloh. Here is the consideration, that the pharyngeally pronounced word Lohe, thus perhaps Loche, adjusted and led Orthography in the course of time for other own place names, for example Lochham or Lochhausen. The name Lehel refers hereafter to a small alluvial forest, a Löhel : this is congruent with the fact that old inhabitants of the district used pronounce their district as Lächl and only in recent times by the many non-native inhabitants had the pronunciation shifted towards Lehel as it is written, with a lightly accented e on the first syllable in the first aspirate, and shortly pronounced e in the second syllable.

Another, rarer theory holds the view that Lehel is possibly in regards to an earlier feud ("Lehen) that took place; thus Lehen becoming Lehel through the Bavarian

Austro-Bavarian

Bavarian , also Austro-Bavarian, is a major group of Upper German varieties spoken in the south east of the German language area.-History and origin:...

 diminutive

Diminutive

In language structure, a diminutive, or diminutive form , is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment...

. The author György Dalos mentions in his book "Hungary in a nutshell" the execution of the Hungarian army commander Lehel in the year 955 at Regensburg

Regensburg

Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...

 and thus this district of Munich was named after this hapless warrior.

Statistics

(as of 31 December, inhabitants with principal residence)

Year	Inhabitants	of which Foreigners	Area (ha.)	Inhabitants/ha.	Source
2000	18,374	4,219 (23.0 %)	316.36	58	Statistisches Taschenbuch München 2001. pdf-Download
2001	18,462	4,227 (22.9 %)	316.36	58	Statistisches Taschenbuch München 2002. pdf-Download
2002	18,193	4,079 (22.4 %)	316.36	58	Statistisches Taschenbuch München 2003. pdf-Download
2003	18,159	4,178 (23.0 %)	316.35	57	Statistisches Taschenbuch München 2004. pdf-Download
2004	18,210	4,108 (22.6 %)	316.39	58	Statistisches Taschenbuch München 2005. pdf-Download
2005	18,631	4,261 (22.9 %)	315.87	59	Statistisches Taschenbuch München 2006. pdf-Download

In 2004, with an area of 316.39 hectare

Hectare

The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...

s there yields 58 inhabitants per hectare.

(Statistical Pocket Book of Munich)

Miscellaneous

Houses of Altstadt in a backyard of Widenmayer Street in Lehel served as the backdrop of the joiner's workshop in Meister Eder und sein Pumuckl

Pumuckl

Pumuckl is a Kobold from a German radio play series for children. He is a descendant of the Klabautermänner.He is invisible to people around him except for the master carpenter Eder with whom Pumuckl lives....

.

Literature

• Helmuth Stahleder: Von Allach bis Zamilapark. Names and historical basic information of the history of Munich and its incorporated suburbs. Stadtarchiv München, ed. München: Buchendorfer Verlag 2001. ISBN 3-934036-46-5
• Horst Feiler: Das Lehel: Die älteste Münchner Vorstadt in Geschichte und Gegenwart, MünchenVerlag 2006, ISBN 3-937090-13-4

External links

• Altstadt München Altstadt of Munich at the Bavarian State Office for historical monument preservation.
• Walking through Lehel (Photos)
• BA Altstadt-Lehel