Oberschleißheim offers several clearly distinct cultural highlights: early Baroque palace architecture, religious festivals and everyday culture, European Baroque painting, porcelain, and the history of aviation and spaceflight. When choosing what to visit, it helps not to treat these themes as interchangeable stops. Their different offerings show whether you would rather focus on historic interior design, collections, or restoration work.
Palace Architecture and European Baroque Painting
With more than 200 rooms and the Wilhelmskapelle chapel, the Old Palace is considered one of Bavaria’s major works of the early Baroque. The number of rooms conveys the scale of the palace, while the chapel adds a distinct sacred dimension. Thus, alongside the architecture of the building as a whole, a specific religious space is another defining feature of the Old Palace.
At Schleißheim New Palace, a ceremonial sequence of rooms shapes the experience: the grand staircase, ballroom, Victoria Hall, and Great Gallery are complemented by the parade apartments of the Elector and his consort. Their exquisite decoration and furnishings rank among the most important examples of Baroque palace interior design. The Bavarian State Painting Collections also display masterpieces of European Baroque painting in the state rooms. Architecture and paintings therefore offer two perspectives on the same place to visit: you can focus both on the sequence of formal rooms and on the art displayed within them.
Festive Traditions and Porcelain
The permanent exhibition at Schleißheim Old Palace explores the religious festivals and everyday culture of peoples around the world. It displays more than 6,000 individual objects in 250 cases. Festivals and everyday life offer different perspectives on the exhibition’s theme. The large collection of objects conveys its scale, while the contrast between the subjects draws attention to different areas of life.
Lustheim Palace offers a different focus on collections: more than 2,000 exquisite porcelain pieces are displayed in the setting of the former electoral summer palace, forming a Baroque ensemble of particular charm. The palace was built in 1685 to mark the marriage of the Bavarian Elector to the Emperor’s daughter, Maria Antonia, and is located on an artificial island in the palace park. Its construction date and purpose place Lustheim in a specific courtly history, while the porcelain draws attention to the furnishings. This focus differs from the paintings at New Palace and the broader thematic scope of the permanent exhibition at Old Palace.
Aviation History and Restoration
Schleißheim Aviation Museum is devoted to the history of aviation and spaceflight and is part of the German Museum’s center for this subject. Visitors can observe ongoing restoration work from a gallery and through a glazed restoration workshop. This offers an experience different from the palace rooms and collections: here, the focus is on the restoration work visitors can observe. In this way, the aviation museum complements the art and cultural history themes with a focus of its own.
Choosing a Focus for Your Stay
A simple distinction can help you choose between the themes: New Palace focuses on courtly representation and painting; Old Palace also explores religious festivals and everyday culture; and Lustheim offers a distinct collection focus through its porcelain. The aviation museum shifts from courtly culture to aviation and spaceflight, and adds the chance to observe restoration work. If you are looking for a hotel in Oberschleißheim, these differences can help you decide which visits should shape your stay.
Discover more destinations: Brunnthal, Unterhaching, Höhenkirchen-Siegertsbrunn, Sauerlach, Ismaning, Munich, Pullach Im Isartal, Putzbrunn.
Go to the main travel overview: Munich.
