History of Murnau

Our Murnau a. Staffelsee is an important market town in Werdenfelser Land and the Zugspitze Region. The economically and strategically good location between Weilheim and Mittenwald on Rottstrasse was crucial for this. As the only market town in the area of ​​the Ettal monastery court, Murnau was the economic center of the region at the time.

Murnau was first mentioned in documents around the year 1150. And since the beginning of written records, the market town has belonged to the Augsburg monastery. In the Middle Ages around 1316, Murnau already had more than 15 properties and a castle. Did you know that this is still preserved today? The castle gave rise to Murnau Castle, which is now home to... Castle Museum located. In 1332, Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian bought the Murnau market and transferred it with all residents and rights to the Ettal Monastery. Until secularization in 1803, Ettal remained the landlord and feudal lord of Murnau.

At that time, people lived on long-distance and passenger transport, local trade and small agriculture. Also central industries in the region were reverse glass painting and the production of feather flowers. These traditional crafts have even spread beyond the borders of... Blue Lands known beyond.

Like all old Bavarian towns, Murnau a. Staffelsee has not been spared from wars, plagues and fires over the centuries. Between 1619 and 1851 the community almost completely burned down four times. During the Thirty Years' War, Swedish and French troops repeatedly invaded. And the plague also claimed numerous lives.

Murnau a. was established as a tourist destination. By the way, Staffelsee was only discovered in the middle of the 19th century! With the connection to the railway network in 1879, the economic boom came and Murnau developed into a popular health resort. This was also reflected in the appearance of the market town. In particular, the Munich architect Emanuel von Seidl left his signature. It was he who designed the colorful facades in the town center of Murnau and built numerous stately country houses.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Murnau finally became known to an international audience. A circle of young artists came together in the Blue Land and brought Expressionism to life. The artistic collaboration between Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Gabriele Münter, Alexej von Jawlensky and Marianne von Werefkin quickly bore fruit. The Münter House also played a crucial role in the history of the “Blauer Reiter”. It became an important meeting point for the avant-garde. In October 1911, the working sessions to prepare the almanac “Der Blaue Reiter” took place there. 

Murnau changed in the following decade. Two barracks were built and today's Werdenfels barracks served as a prison camp for Polish officers from 1939 until the end of the war. Despite this humanitarian catastrophe, the subsequent inflation and the global economic crisis, there was an economic upswing in Murnau after 1945. A subsequent construction boom gave Murnau numerous new buildings, school buildings, a spa guest house, a fire station and a sewage treatment plant. In 1972 Murnau separated from Weilheim, was assigned to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and received a connection point to the motorway network.

Today Murnau a. Staffelsee is a proud market town with around 12.000 inhabitants, around eight times as many as at the beginning of the 19th century. Now it is important to preserve the legacy of the past, maintain what already exists and create new things.

Numerous legends surround the green lindworm in the coat of arms of Murnau a. Staffelsee as well as the origin of the place name. It is likely that the coat of arms goes back to a legendary interpretation of the place name as "Wurmsau". The dean Franz Sales Gailler offered a nice attempt to explain this in the middle of the 18th century. “Wurmsau was, as they say, the first name of the place, as if they wanted to call it the Au der Worms. Therefore it has a larger winged wyvern or dragon in its coat of arms. But since the name was somewhat crude and difficult to pronounce, the soft-sounding Murnau was created."

The zoologist and dialect poet Max Dingler also dealt with the origin of Murnau's name in his local guide from 1910. In his opinion, the name was made up of “Moor” and “Au”.

It cannot be determined with certainty when the Lindworm first appeared in the Murnau coat of arms. The first undamaged municipal seal dates from 1374. By the way, Murnau is not alone with the Lindworm in its coat of arms. The cities of Klagenfurt and Ljubljana also carry it, as does the Lower Bavarian market Wurmannsquick (Rottal-Inn district).