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Vintage Postcards In and Around Munich

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Vintage Postcards In and Around Munich

Looking for a gift with Munich roots, or a piece of city history for your own wall? Vintage picture postcards are both. My shop currently holds more than 20 original cards from Munich and Lake Starnberg, many over 100 years old, each one of a kind. Here are the most beautiful ones.

Genuinely old: what the back reveals

Until 1905, the back of a German postcard was reserved for the address alone. The greeting was therefore written on the picture side, as on this card from Starnberg, postmarked on 20 April 1903. The green stamp is Bavarian, because Bavaria had its own stamps until 1920. I mention details like these in every description, so you know exactly what you are getting.

Lithograph of Starnberg looking across the lake to the Alps, with a handwritten greeting on the picture side, 1903View on Etsy ↗ Back of the Starnberg card with a Bavarian 5-pfennig stamp and postmarks from April 1903View on Etsy ↗

Munich: Feldherrnhalle, Marienplatz, Hofbräuhaus

Odeonsplatz was the old publishers’ favourite subject. Three cards show it: a coloured one from 1908 with carriages in front of the Feldherrnhalle, a “Gruß aus München” (Greetings from Munich) that travelled to Thuringia in 1906, densely written, and a later one with automobiles by the roadside. From Marienplatz I have two photo cards with trams, one of them taken during the glockenspiel. And there is the Hofbräuhaus in vivid colours.

Coloured postcard of Odeonsplatz with the Feldherrnhalle, Theatine Church, carriages and crowds, 1908View on Etsy ↗ Card Greetings from Munich showing the Theatine Church and Feldherrnhalle, handwritten all around, mailed 1906View on Etsy ↗ Colour postcard of the Feldherrnhalle and Theatine Church with automobiles by the roadsideView on Etsy ↗ Photo postcard of Munich’s Marienplatz with the Mariensäule, trams and carsView on Etsy ↗ Photo postcard of Marienplatz and the town hall during the glockenspiel, with crowds and a tramView on Etsy ↗ Coloured postcard of the Hofbräuhaus in Munich with a horse-drawn cartView on Etsy ↗

Colour from the print shop: fountain, angel, Isar

The colourful cards from around 1900 are not colour photographs; the colours were added in printing. A master of this was the Munich publisher Purger & Co. with its “Photochromiekarten”, for example of the Wittelsbach Fountain. Just as colourful are the Angel of Peace, the Maximilianeum and the Isar with the Alps on the horizon. For lovers of Bavarian history there is also an anniversary card for the 25th year of Prince Regent Luitpold’s regency, from 1911. Framed, any of these cards becomes an eye-catcher in a Munich home.

Photochrome postcard of the Wittelsbach Fountain on Lenbachplatz in MunichView on Etsy ↗ Coloured postcard of the Peace Monument, Munich’s Angel of PeaceView on Etsy ↗ Postcard of the Maximilianeum with the Maximiliansbrücke over the IsarView on Etsy ↗ Coloured card of Munich, a view along the Isar towards the mountainsView on Etsy ↗ Anniversary card for the 25th year of the regency of Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria, 1911View on Etsy ↗

A trip to Lake Starnberg

As early as 1900 the lake was Munich’s favourite excursion, and a great many cards were sent from there.

Berg Castle, where King Ludwig II died in 1886, comes twice: as a photochrome card from 1910 and as a mailed card reading “Grüße vom Starnbergersee!”. The Undosa wave pool in Starnberg opened in 1905 as Germany’s first wave pool; I have it as a colour card and as a photo card. The Bismarck Tower on the Rottmannshöhe appears on a card printed for its inauguration on 1 July 1899 and on one at least 25 years younger.

Coloured postcard of Berg Castle on Lake Starnberg with a rowing boatView on Etsy ↗ Back of a card Greetings from Lake Starnberg, Berg Castle, with a Bavarian stamp and Leoni postmarkView on Etsy ↗ Coloured postcard of Starnberg with the Undosa wave pool, seen from the lakeView on Etsy ↗ Photo postcard of the Undosa-Bad lakeside restaurant in StarnbergView on Etsy ↗ Artist postcard of the Bismarck monument on the Rottmannshöhe above Lake Starnberg, 1899View on Etsy ↗ Imprint Inauguration of the Bismarck monument 1 July 1899 with a handwritten greetingView on Etsy ↗

Around the lake you will also find “Gruß aus Leoni” in a painted frame, the steamer at the pier in Tutzing, where Bavarian Heritage is based, and Andechs Abbey as an artist card.

Postcard of the Bismarck Tower on Lake Starnberg with a steamer and Alpine panoramaView on Etsy ↗ Lithograph Greetings from Leoni on Lake Starnberg in a painted frameView on Etsy ↗ Coloured postcard of the Tutzing pier with a steamer on Lake StarnbergView on Etsy ↗ Artist postcard of Andechs Abbey with the abbey church and a pathView on Etsy ↗

Honestly described, shipped fast

I describe every card precisely: used or unused, postmark, stamp, corners and creases. Orders ship within one working day with tracking, and gift wrapping is available on request. That makes an old card a gift for Munich locals and former locals, for people from Lake Starnberg and for collectors. With a frame and mount it will soon hang on the wall; tips are in Hanging pictures correctly.

Each card exists only once. If you like one, don’t wait too long. You will find more pieces in the product overview and in the Bavarian Heritage Etsy shop. If you would rather browse yourself, Flea Markets In and Around Munich lists the best markets.

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