Frauenkirche

This huge church defines the Munich skyline with its twin onion-domed towers, a shade over 98 m tall - the money ran out for the planned spires. It's the Roman Catholic cathedral, but always known locally as Frauenkirche. It was built from 1469 to 1488 in brick because of a lack of suitable local stone; the towers were only completed in 1525, cleverly anticipating a law of 2004 that no structure within Altstadt may exceed 99 m in height. Although its style is Gothic, it's fairly simple outside and in, without the usual ornamentation of that style. Eleven kings or archdukes of Bavaria are interred here. The church was bombed in wartime and full restoration took until 1994. Its three naves are of equal height, creating a single hall soaring so high that you can't see the windows, and light floods in from no visible source. This is in legend is the feature that caused the devil to stamp in pique, leaving a black footprint (Teufelstritt) within a yellow flagstone just inside the entrance. You can climb the south tower.

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