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Oct. 20, 2018: Munich's Rathaus Glockenspiel

 

An unsuspecting mid-day visitor to Munich's Marienplatz at the center of the Old City, the Altstadt, might be puzzled to see the crowds in the square standing, motionless, staring upwards.

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But it wouldn't take long to follow their gaze and realize they're staring at one of Munich's signature attractions: the Glockenspiel animated figures on the tower of the Rathaus, the City Hall. The whole animated show happens daily at 11 am and 5 pm, with an extra show at noon in the summer.

P1110652The show, which features 32 life-size figures and 43 bells, starts on the upper level, where the king presides as his knights on horseback joust with their lances; the winner of each bout is (apparently) knocked from his horse. Actually, they are mounted on two concentric tracks to give the appearance of coming at each other.

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After the knights are finished, the lower level becomes active, with costumed figures dancing in a circle for several minutes; they are the city's Guild of Coopers, who supposedly helped the city through a medieval plague epidemic by dancing through the streets. And last, but not least, when all is done, a golden rooster, above the stages, crows three times.

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Although everything about it has an ancient feel, like the astronomical clocks and animated figures of other cities, but it's actually a bit of a sham. The Rathaus, with its ornate 'ancient' facade was actually built in two stages starting in the 1850s and ending in 1907; the glockenspiel was created for the tower, which was last to be built.

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If you look around carefully on the corners of the tower, looking out at the glockenspiel and the audience, there are also a couple of sets of non-moving figures, the mother and child above, and the stalking cat below. At least we were told it's a stalking cat. Hard to tell, no?

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The best part of every trip is realizing that it has upset your expectations

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