Thousands of people walk across Marienplatz in the heart of Munich every day. Hardly anyone would think that this famous place still has a few secrets– but in fact it does. And we’re not just talking about the Art Nouveau library, which is reminiscent of a Harry Potter movie set. This is because part of Munich’s so-called Stadtbach once flowed right here. This special feature makes Marienplatz station a unique attraction.
A river in the middle of the old town
Marienplatz, the historic heart of Munich, has not always been dominated by buildings and cobblestones. In the Middle Ages, the city stream was created here. It was an artificial, branching system of canals and streams that channelled water from the Isar into the city. This made it possible to power mills, supply tanneries and fill city ditches.
A main branch of the Stadtbach runs through the middle of today’s city center, often along Kaufingerstraße. It was even used to fill the market fountain on Marienplatz! In the Middle Ages, Munich was a city on the water, so to speak. Life without the river in the middle of the old town was hardly conceivable.
Over time, however, the city stream increasingly disappeared. The canals were filled in or arched over for reasons of hygiene and urban planning. Today, they mostly flow in underground canals or have been drained. The watercourse, which was so important at the time, disappeared from view and thus from memory.
The rediscovery through the station construction
Out of sight, out of mind was the motto for some time. But when construction work began on the Munich S-Bahn main line and the subway networks in the 1960s, the engineers had to dig deep underground. And lo and behold, they found traces of this “lost” city stream.
The construction of the station under the historic center was a massive challenge, not least because of the high groundwater level and the former riverbed. The construction workers had to dig very deep: Due to the old stream, Marienplatz station lies at around -22 meters. But that’s not all. The S-Bahn station is also the only one on the main line where the two tracks are on top of each other (instead of next to each other).
The underground history still plays a role today: the construction of the 2nd S-Bahn main line, which provides for a new S-Bahn station (Marienhof) to the north-east of Marienplatz, is one of the most complex construction projects in Germany, as it penetrates to even greater depths. And all this because a city stream once flowed through the middle of Munich…