Alte Pinakothek or the Old Pinakotek is a Bavarian museum where one of the most important collections of European paintings in the world is held. The museum exhibits works of art by Italian, German, Dutch and Flemish and other West European painters from the 13th to the 18th century. Over 700 paintings are displayed in the museum, and the important information is that the admission to the museum on Sunday costs 1 euro only (the very same rule applies to all Bavarian museums).
The intention of building a museum came from Ludwig I, who himself was an avid art lover. He personally collected paintings by great German and Dutch masters as well as Italian artworks from the Renaissance period. Leo for Klenze (a court architect and artist) was entrusted with the endeavour. The foundation stone was laid in 1826. The museum was incredibly modern for the time so that many museums and galleries in Europe, after the inauguration of Pinakothek in 1836, used this museum as an inspiration.
There are many galleries in Rome, St. Petersburg and Brussels that emulated this style. Certain exhibition rooms were created to be particularly spacious so that paintings such as the Universal Judgment by Rubens could be displayed (this Rubens’s painting is one of the largest paintings ever painted). During the Second World War, the interior decorations of the museum were severely damaged, but the reconstruction soon followed, and the museum was reopened for the public in the 1950s. Pinakothek was funded by Bavarian banks that got to provide numerous Italian and French paintings from the 17th century. The Pinakothek was closed again in 1988 because of an armed person who managed to enter the museum with sulfuric acid only to damage several Durer paintings including the Altare Paumgartner (later reconstructed) and Mater Dolorosa (reconstruction completed only in 2009). The Gallery was reopened for public in 1998 and today it has the cutting edge protection systems.
The rich collection of the museum will leave no visitor indifferent to its beauty, which is why we strongly recommend it.
The ticket price
The regular price: 7 €.
Reduced price: 5 € - for students with a valid student card and for adults older than 65 years of age.
Free entrance – for under -18 year olds, for accredited journalists
The ticket price every Sunday is 1 €.
Working hours
On Tuesday – from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm
From Wednesday to Sunday – from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm; closed on Mondays
