Munich
A 3D reconstruction of the city in four periods — 1570, 1613, c. 1640 and 1809 — based on Tobias Volckmer’s plan of 1613. A non-commercial research project. Back to the model
Sources shown in the model
- Tobias Volckmer the Younger, “Monachium Bavariae”, plan of Munich, 1613. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Mapp. XI, 441 b. Digitisation — bavarikon, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. The “plan 1613” layer is a georeferenced crop of this scan and is shared under the same terms: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; changes: georeferenced to ETRS89 / UTM 32N, cropped to the model extent.
- “Königlich Baiersche Haupt- und Residenzstadt München am 1ten Januar 1809”, sheet of the Bavarian first cadastral survey (Uraufnahme). Wikimedia Commons, public domain. The “cadastre 1809” layer is a georeferenced crop.
- DGM1 digital terrain model and LoD2 3D building models: data source: Bayerische Vermessungsverwaltung — www.geodaten.bayern.de, CC BY 4.0. The terrain is modified: moat, river channels and town brooks cut in, the Isar floodplain restored. The “today” layer is a simplified extract of LoD2.
- Copernicus DEM GLO-90 — the distant horizon: the plain up to 55 km around and the Alps. © DLR e.V. 2010–2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014–2018, provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA; Copernicus DEM, free GLO-90 licence. Modified: the surface model is cleared of today’s buildings (morphological opening) and smoothed; the colours are a procedural landscape, not imagery.
- Bernardo Bellotto, “View of Munich”, 1761 (Residenz, Munich) — the “Bellotto, 1761” comparison: a panorama from the Gasteig painted for Elector Max III Joseph. Photo of the painting: Wilfredor, Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Viewpoint solved from five landmarks in the painting, residual 3 pixels in 4521.
- Jakob Sandtner’s city model, 1570 (Bavarian National Museum) — the “Sandtner model 1570” comparison layer: an orthophoto taken from the scan “City model of Munich from 1570” by RealityShaper, CC BY 4.0. Fitted to the scene by the control points (see below), residual ~22 m; the model itself is not a survey and its east side is compressed.
- Matthäus Merian, “Topographia Bavariae”, 1644, plate 14 “Monachium” — the “Merian 1644” comparison layer: a bird’s-eye plan with the finished bastion belt; the belt of the “c. 1640” period is traced from it. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Public Domain Mark 1.0.
- Matthäus Seutter, “München, die weitberühmt, prächtig und wohl fortificirte Chur-Fürstl. Haupt- u. Residenz Stadt”, Augsburg, c. 1740 — the “Seutter’s plan c. 1740” comparison layer: the bastion belt in the 18th century. Scan from the “Alt-Münchner Bilderbuch” (1918), Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain Mark 1.0.
- OpenStreetMap: street alignments of the old town, outlines of surviving buildings and the courses of the Isar and the Würm 20 km around (distant horizon) —
© OpenStreetMap contributors,
ODbL 1.0. The OSM-derived data in the model files
(
data/vectors.json) are available under the ODbL.
Sources behind the reconstruction
- Matthäus Merian, “Topographia Bavariae”, 1644, plate 14 “Monachium”: the city arms with the Münchner Kindl in a laurel wreath — on the loading screen; Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Public Domain Mark 1.0.
- Matthäus Merian, “Topographia Bavariae”, 1644, plate 15 (Residenz, height measurements) — Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Public Domain Mark 1.0.
- Construction and alteration dates from German Wikipedia articles and reference works; notes on each landmark appear when you click it (in Russian only).
What is assumed
The model is an atmospheric reconstruction, not a survey. Houses are generated from the type of the Munich burgher house on the blocks of the 1809 cadastre; for many large buildings the dimensions and heights are assumed — this is noted when you click them. All sheets are georeferenced by the same control points — surviving buildings and gates after OpenStreetMap outlines; lost gates and towers are placed after the 1809 cadastre, itself fitted to OSM to ~2.5 m. Accuracy of the drawn sheets (checked at a point left out of the fit): Sandtner model ~22 m, Volckmer’s plan ~25 m, Merian ~30 m, Seutter ~28 m; more outside the walls, where control points are scarce.
Reconstruction: Dmitry Tretyakov, 2026.