Theatinerkirche, Munich

Theatinerkirche or St. Kajetan is the beautiful yellow baroque church at Odeonsplatz. It was built to look a bit like the churches of Rome or Venice that's why it is one of the most beautiful churches in Munich. The inside with the big dome is worth a look as well!

The architecture of this fine baroque church dates back to two Italians, Barelli and Zuccalli in the 17th century. Its Mediterranean appearance and yellow coloring is a spectacular site. Open daily 9am-7pm

This Italian Baroque church came about because its founder, Princess Henriette Adelaide was a native of Turin, Italy and didn't think that Bavarian architects were up to snuff. So, she had a guy from Bologna named Agostino Barelli do the job.

In my assessment, he did a decent job. The interior is striking only in that it is so darn white!! Everywhere you look, it's white! And, as you can tell from the picture, the outside is boldly yellow, another hint of Italian roots.

The Theatinerkirche St. Kajetan was built in 1663-75 by Barelli, who used the St. Andrea della Valle iN Rome as the model. The dome and two towers and the center section of the façade were added later. The church contains the Fürstengruft (Prince’s Tomb), the burial place for many important members of the Wittelsbach family.

The Theatinerkirche was the first church we visited in Munich. Apologies for the bad photo - but I was happy that I was at least able to get that one, as we were in such as rush :-(
This church was one of the first baroque churches in Bavaria. It is also called "St Cajetan" after the founder of the Theatine order, and is of baroque and rococo style, built from 1663 to 1768. It was a church of Theatine monks and was built because of Henriette von Savoyen. She was the wife of the then elector and wished for a male heir, so she vowed that she would build a church for the monks if God would give her one.
Indeed, three years later she gave birth to a boy and construction of the church began.
The Theatine monks left in 1801 and after that, the church was used as church for the court, today it is cared for by Dominican monks.

I did not particularly like the exterior, but the interior (of which I took no pictures) is much more beautiful. It is surprisingly light, mostly white in colour, and very elegant. Many original interior pieces have been destroyed during World War II, though.
You can see pictures of the interior here: www.theatinerkirche.de/index.php?cID=19

The church is located at Odeonsplatz, where you can see other interesting buildings, like the Feldherrnhalle (unfortunately a favourite place of the Nazis after the failed coup in 1923), and more baroque houses and sculptures.

The Theatinerkirche is another of most beatiful churches that you can see in the city of Munich.It is located also very close to Marientzplatz and it was built in1.662.We had the chance during our visit to see this nice church by the inside also.

Our time was short and we had too many new places to see on this amazing city,so we were glad to have the chance to see some of best buildings and places in Munich by the interior.Unfortunatelly we saw also a few things just by exterior,but at least we saw all best places in Munich,.

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Painted a bold naples yellow, this church lends a very Italian feel to Odeonsplatz. While having a similar structure to the nearby St Lukas, with twin dome topped spires flanking a central domed roof, it has a colour and Baroque facade that could have been ripped from any city in Italy. Diagonally opposite the Italianate Hofgarten, and at the beginning of the long, straight and wide boulevard of Ludwigstrasse, it creates an impression that is as much Milan as Munich.

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I had a little time........actually, that's not quite true.....my insatiable curiousity got the better of me. That's more like it. So it was that I stepped through the door of the imposing Theatinerkirche. Built from 1663 to 1690, it was founded by Elector Ferdinand Maria and his wife, Henriette Adelaide of Savoy, as a gesture of thanks for the birth of the long-awaited heir to the Bavarian crown, Prince Max Emanuel, in 1662.
The church was built in Italian high-baroque style after San Andrea del Valle in Rome and designed by the Italian architect Agostino Barelli. His successor, Enrico Zuccalli, added two towers, which originally were not planned and then finished the 71 meter (233 ft) high dome in 1690. The facade in rococo style was finished only in 1768 by François de Cuvilles. Its Mediterranean appearance and yellow coloring became a well known symbol for the city and had much influence on Southern German baroque architecture.
The rich stucco ornaments inside the church have a remarkably light feeling owing to its brilliant white color. The stucco decorations were done by Nicolo Petri (1685 - 1688) while Wolfgang Leutner was responsible for the stucco figures. The great black pulpit is a work of Andreas Faistenberger (1686). The altars keep paintings of Caspar de Crayer, Carlo Cignani, George Desmareés and Joachim Sandrart. Balthasar Ableithner created the statues of Saint Marcus and Saint John. A small chapel contains the tombs of King Max II and his wife. The crypt also contains the Prince’s Tomb, where these members of the Wittelsbach family are interred:
Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria
Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria
Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian III, Elector of Bavaria
Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria
King Maximilian I of Bavaria
King Otto of Greece
Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria
Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria

We never had time to go in, but this wonderfully warm, yellow church, also known as St Catejan, charmed me. Modelled on a roman church in the 17th century, it is at its most beautiful when seen in sunshine from the top of one of the other churches in the city.

A stunning colour for a church.

"The church's impressive yellow facade introduces a breath of Italy to Munich. Henriette Adelaide of Savoy, wife of the elector Ferdinand Maria, donated this church to the Italian Order of the Theatines in gratitude for the birth of the long-awaited heir to the throne Prince Max Emanuel. It was built in Baroque style and largely completed by 1688 by the masters Spinelli and Zucalli and received finishing touches in Rococo style by the Cuvilliés, father and son, in 1768. The donator did not live to see the church finished. The church's interior is unusual for Bavarian Churches. It is monumental and full of southern pathos , dominated by the white stucco works of the Italian stucco masters Moretti, Brenni and Perti. The church's high altar, whose gable figures represent dignitaries of the House of Savoy gives further evidence of the Italian influence.

Several members of the House of Wittelsbach have been buried in the Fürstengruft (Royal Sepulchre), amongst those the Elector Ferdinand Maria, his wife Henriette Adelaide of Savoy, their son Max Emanuel, elector Karl Theodor, the Emperor Karl VII, King Max I and King Otto of Greece, as well as Prince Regent Luitpold. Today the church's southern annex, the former monastery of the Theatines, houses the Bavarian State Ministry of Education and Culture."