Alte Pinakothek, and Sunday for €1

What it is

The Alte Pinakothek is Munich's museum of Old Master European painting, from the mid-fifteenth to the mid-eighteenth century. It was commissioned by King Ludwig I of Bavaria from Leo von Klenze, and opened on 16 October 1836. The collection goes back much further: it was begun by Duke Albert V in the sixteenth century. It displays more than 700 paintings in 19 galleries and 47 cabinets.

The building was badly damaged in the bombing of 1943 and 1944. Hans Döllgast rebuilt it between 1952 and 1957, and left visible, on the south facade, the patching of the wartime gaps, without restoring the decoration. Look at it from outside before you go in.

What to see

If you are short of time, look for these works:

• Dürer: the self-portrait in a fur coat, from 1500, and the Four Apostles, from 1526.
• Rubens: the Great Last Judgement, the largest painting in the museum.
• Leonardo da Vinci: the Madonna of the Carnation, around 1473.
• Raphael: the Canigiani Holy Family, around 1505.
• Spanish painting: El Greco, Velázquez, Ribera, Zurbarán, Alonso Cano, Claudio Coello and Murillo, with the children eating grapes and melon, from 1645.

There are also Botticelli, Rembrandt, Brueghel the Elder, Poussin and Boucher.

While the Neue Pinakothek remains closed for building work, until 2029 according to the museum, a selection of its nineteenth-century painting is displayed on the ground floor of the east wing of the Alte Pinakothek and in the Sammlung Schack.

Opening times

• Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00 to 18:00.
• Tuesday and Wednesday, until 20:00.
• Monday, closed.

Tickets

• General: €9.
• Reduced: €6, for over-65s, students and other groups with accreditation.
• Sunday: €1.
• Under-18s: free.
• Combined ticket: €12 for the Alte Pinakothek, the Pinakothek der Moderne, the Museum Brandhorst and the Sammlung Schack on the same day. It does not include paid temporary exhibitions.

You can buy it in the Pinakotheken online shop or at the ticket office.

Visiting with your phone

The museum has a free web guide, "Pocket Guide | Alte Pinakothek Unframed", which opens on your phone without installing anything. It offers six tours for adults, four for children and one in easy-read language. Bring headphones.

How to get there

The address is Barer Straße 27, with the entrance on Theresienstraße, in the museum quarter (Kunstareal), a walk from Marienplatz.

• Tram 27 or 28, Pinakotheken stop.
• Bus 100, the museum line, or 58, Pinakotheken stop.
• Metro: U2 at Königsplatz or Theresienstraße; U3 and U6 at Odeonsplatz or Universität; U4 and U5 at Odeonsplatz.

There is no parking nearby: go by public transport.

How long and accessibility

For the essentials, about 2 hours; to see it at leisure, 3. Bags larger than a sheet of A4 (30 × 20 × 10 cm) must be left in the cloakroom or the lockers on the ground floor. The main entrance is step-free, there are four lifts and all the galleries, the café and the shop are accessible. At the information desk they lend folding stools and two wheelchairs.

With children

Under-18s do not pay and the phone guide has four tours for children. For a family visit in Munich, the Deutsches Museum usually works better with the youngest; the Alte Pinakothek suits older children who already enjoy painting, on a short visit.