Murnau and Staffelsee

Gabriele Münter bought a house in Murnau in 1909 and she and Wassily Kandinsky worked there through the years when his painting moved toward abstraction; Franz Marc, August Macke and Alexei Jawlensky also worked in the area, and the Blue Rider group formed out of these connections. Münter kept a large number of Kandinsky's works hidden through the Nazi years and gave them to Munich in 1957, which is why the Lenbachhaus holds the collection it does. Her house is a museum. The Staffelsee beside the town has seven islands, one with a chapel, and is shallow enough to warm quickly in summer.

History

The area was settled before Christian times, with Celtic and Roman traces in the Murnauer Moos, and from the reign of Septimius Severus the Via Raetia ran through on its way to Augsburg; the market grew in the 12th century around Murnau Castle, and the name, from Mure, "mudslide", and Aue, "meadow", recalls the moor and the Loisach valley. Murnau is first recorded in 1150, the castle in 1324, and in 1350 Duke Louis V granted it high justice, staple rights and a weekly market; Swedish and French troops occupied it from 1632 to 1648 and plague struck in 1634, the church of St Nicholas was rebuilt between 1717 and 1734, and after a great fire in 1835 the town was almost entirely rebuilt. The railway came in 1879, and in 1908 Gabriele Münter and Wassily Kandinsky, with Marianne von Werefkin and Alexej Jawlensky, painted here together, the start of the "Murnau era" that ran until 1914; Münter moved into her house with Kandinsky in 1909 (Wikipedia, Murnau am Staffelsee).

What you'll find

• The Münter House - the painted furniture and rooms she and Kandinsky used.
• The Murnau museum - Blue Rider works and local painting.
• The Staffelsee islands - seven islets, one carrying a small chapel.
• The moor landscape - the wetland between town and mountains they painted.

When to go

May to October; the lake is a swimming and boating lake in summer. Museums close Mondays. The moor paths are best in spring and autumn.

What to expect

The Münter House is small with timed entry in busy periods. Most of the major paintings are in Munich, not Murnau. The lake islands need a boat.

Nearby

The Ammergau Alps rise south; Oberammergau is beyond them.

Key facts