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Viktualienmarkt
Viktualienmarkt
Close to Marienplatz to the south Viktualienmarkt is situated. It is a daily food market (lat. Viktualien) only closed on Sundays and bank holidays. Stalls and shops offer traditional Bavarian meat, sausages, Sauerkraut in wooden bowls, mushrooms as well as international delicacies like lobsters, wine and exotic fruits. One will see very different personalities like the typical market-woman next to a posh lady and fish smell next to expensive perfume. These contrasts give Viktualienmarkt its special atmosphere.
Shops and market stalls
There is not a lot you won’t find at Viktualienmarkt. Here is just a small selection: The Honighäusl (honey house) offers about 60 different kinds of honey. The Kleine Ochs’nbrater is an organic takeaway with beef burgers, potato salad and organic sausages, organic beer, bread and juices. The horse butcher Kaspar Wörle sells smoked horsemeat as well as cold and warm sausages. The freshly pressed orange juice and the oriental takeaway “Sababa” in Westenrieder Straße can be recommended, too.
Maypole and beer garden
In the centre of Viktualienmarkt a big maypole is put up which is donated by the Munich breweries. The beer garden has about 1000 seats and there is a specific characteristic about it. All Munich breweries take it in turns to deliver their beer to the beer garden at Viktualienmarkt. At the bar it will signposted which beer is available.
Dance of the market women
On Shrove Tuesday at 11.12 a.m. the dance of the market women is the highlight of the carnival in Munich. Twelve market women dance with the mayor and the carnival society Narrhalla. This tradition only started at the beginning of the 20th century when the market women were dancing in front of their stalls at the end of the carnival.
The history of Viktualienmarkt
In 1807 when Marienplatz which was then called “Schrannenplatz“, where cereals and other farm products where sold, became too small, a part of the market was moved to the square where it is still today. Thanks to the fashion in the 19th century the Latin word for food “Viktualien” became its name. Until 1890 the market was enlarged several times. Before 1870 the stalls where allocated every day to somebody else. Since 1870 the stalls have a permanent tenant.
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