Destroyed City. Herbert List and the Photography of Ruins in Munich

November 21 until December 17, 2025
The Münchner Stadtmuseum's photography collection as a guest at the Rathausgalerie

2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the war. To honor the occasion, the Münchner Stadtmuseum's photography collection is showing a selection of photographs from its holdings from the immediate post-war period. The centerpiece is a cycle of images of ruins that photographer Herbert List (1903 - 1975), who returned to Munich in 1945, captured on his wanderings through the destroyed city. Prominent buildings such as the former Braunes Haus, the Glyptothek, the Academy, the Hofgarten, the Frauenkirche, the Marstall and the Wittelsbacher Palais are also pictured, as are destroyed sculptures and works of art in public spaces. In comparison with photographs by amateurs and professional, commissioned postcards and photo reports, List's particular approach becomes clear: having returned from exile in Greece, he was less interested in an objective documentation of the heavily destroyed city than in timeless artistic compositions that refer to his earlier dramatic stagings of ancient ruins.

The Münchner Stadtmuseum is closed until 2031 for extensive general refurbishment and is showing its interim program at external venues.