St. Peter´s church (Alter Peter)

The oldest church in Munich is St. Peter´s in striking distance to Marienplatz. Locals call the tower of St. Peter “Old Peter“ (Alter Peter).

306 steps take visitors to the viewing platform of St. Peter´s church. The view of the inner city of Munich and the Viktualienmarkt is magnificent. On some days the special weather condition “foehn“ makes it possible to see the complete mountain range of the Alps.

Inside the church the remains of Saint Munditia are kept, the patron of single mothers.

The history of St. Peter´s church

Even in the 12th century there had been a church on a hill called Petersbergl. Several times the church had been rebuilt and extended. During the Second World War the church was extremely damaged. The tower was no more than a stump and the reconstruction seemed impossible due to financial reasons. The ruin was already released to be completely removed when an initiative by the ministers Max Stritter and Max Zistle as well as Munich´s cardinal Michael Faulhaber made the reconstruction possible. In 1946 an association for the reconstruction of St. Peter´s church was founded and the reconstruction started. In 1951 the tower of St. Peter, 91 meters high, was reconstructed and in 1954 the rebuilding came to an end and the church was consecrated.

Munich´s hymn “as long as St. Peter”

The folk song “As long as St. Peter” (Solang der alte Peter) has been known as Munich´s hymn. Originally the song was composed by a Viennese composer for St. Stephan´s cathedral in Vienna. On 13 January 1948 the Bavarian radio station (Bayerischer Rundfunk) adapted the beginning of the song for their interval signal, but the tone for the last syllable “-ter” was missing. This was to remind people of the damage to St. Peter´s church during the war. After the reconstruction, on 28 October 1951, thousands of people met at Marienplatz and together they sang “As long as St. Peter” (Solang der alte Peter). Since this day the Bavarian radio plays the tune of the song including the last syllable.

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