BMW Welt & Museum, Munich

Munich is one of my favourite city in Europe, and it has a lot to offer to the travellers. Due to its unique position, there are numerous day trips possible from here. It is also can serve as a base if you want to go to Switzerland, Austria, Italy, France and Hungary. Moreover, it has a lot to offer within itself, including many free treats. BMW welt is one of them.

Not only the entry to BMW welt is free, but also it opens from 7.30 till midnight. However, the museum opens at 10, and closed on Mondays, and charges a fee of 10EUR. I would love to go back to see the midnight lighting someday, but this time I visited during a sunny afternoon. Take the S1 or S8 (urban train) from airport or central station. At Marienplatz you have to change and take the U3 (underground) to Olympiazentrum, like I did. Use ISAR card while in Munich, far cheaper than the usual travel card. Saturdays you can also take the U8 directly to Olympiazentrum. From there it is two-min-walk .

In 2001 an international architectural design competition was sponsored by BMW AG. Twenty-seven offices participated in the competition. The jury awarded two offices Sauerbruch Hutton and COOP HIMMELB(L)AU first prize. Both of them had gone for a third phase design competition and ultimately, the contract was awarded to the Vienna-based architects COOP HIMMELB(L)AU.

It was constructed from August 2003 through summer 2007 at a cost of US$200 million. It eventually opened on October 17, 2007, and deliveries commenced from October 23, 2007. There were 2,200,000 visitors during the first 12 months of operation. The number of visitors increased to 2,930,000 in 2013, of which 60% came from Germany.

The multi-storey car park opens from Monday to Saturday 7.30 am to midnight, and on Sundays and public holidays 9 am to midnight, for a charge of 2EUR/hour upto a maximum 15EUR. The cafe, “Bavarie” has nice ambience, and an expensive menu 😉

Designed with an 800 kW solar plant on its roof, “the building does not have the boredom of a hall, it is not only a temple, but also a market place and a communication center and meeting place for knowledge transfer”, said architect Prix at the opening ceremony.

The museum ,on the other side of the street, deals with the history of the BMW.It was established in 1973, shortly after the Summer Olympics opened. But after renovation from time to time, it finally reopened in 2008. The silver futuristic building was designed by Viennese professor Karl Schnauzer and known as the salad bowl or white cauldron,. The roughly circular base is only 20 meters in diameter, the flat roof about 40 metres.

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