OPENING Destroyed City – Herbert List and the Photography of Ruins in Munich

Rathausgalerie

Thursday, November 20, 2025, 19:00

Type:
  • Opening
Herbert List, Plaster casts in the destroyed Munich Academy, winter 1945/46 — Credits: Herbert List Estate, Hamburg Germany
Clemens Bergmann, New Town Hall in front of a burning city, 1943/1944 — Credits: Clemens Bergmann
Landscape of ruins and Frauenkirche, Munich 1947 — Credits: Dorothea Brockmann

2025 marks the eightieth anniversary of the end of World War II. The Photography Collection at Münchner Stadtmuseum is showing a selection of images depicting the wreckage left after the war had ended. It features a cycle of images of ruins by photographer Herbert List (1903–1975), who returned to Munich in 1945. Amateur photographs as well as professional postcards and photo essays complement List‘s work. Tower monitor Clemens Bergmann’s slides are especially noteworthy, capturing the heavy bombardment of Munich from the Frauenkirche church towers. They stand in contrast to List’s unique approach. He was less interested in factual documentation than in timeless artistic compositions that reference his earlier stagings of ancient Grecian ruins.
The event will be translated into German Sign Language.

Address: Rathausgalerie
Marienplatz 8
80331 München