Alter Peter and the saint with the jewelled skeleton

You are on the Petersbergl, the only real hill in the old town. Here stands St. Peter, the city’s oldest parish church, mentioned as early as around 1225 and rebuilt in Gothic style in 1294. Its 91-metre tower is the “Alter Peter”, Old Peter, and Munich’s people are so fond of it that a popular song says that as long as it stands, the city’s “Gemütlichkeit”, its easy-going good life, will never come to an end.

1A saint from the catacombs

If you go inside, look in the north aisle for a black shrine with silver ornaments. Inside, in full view, lies the skeleton of Saint Munditia, dressed in embroidered robes and covered in jewels. She comes from the catacomb of San Lorenzo in Rome; all that is known of her life is what her tombstone says. In 1675 the councillor and merchant Franz Benedikt Höger received her as a gift for this church, and in 1677 he brought her to Munich.

In 1804 displaying the remains was banned and they were covered with a wooden reliquary; since 1883 they have been on view once more.

Her feast day is 17 November, and she is regarded as the patron saint of single women.

2The poor sinners’ bell

The tower holds the church’s oldest bell, cast shortly after the fire of 1327. It rang when the priest went to attend the dying and during executions on Marienplatz. Karl Valentin, Munich’s great comedian, had his own explanation for why the tower has eight clock faces: so that eight people can check the time at once.

3What to look for

• The clock faces spread around the tower: Valentin counted eight.
• Saint Munditia’s shrine, in a chapel in the north aisle.
• The viewing gallery at 56 metres, reached by 306 steps.