2008

The brewer’s assistant Julius returns

In 1897, Prince Regent Luitpold commissioned the Chemnitz-based architect Max Litmann with the refurbishment of the Hofbräuhaus. For the newly-built oriel, artist Julius Jordan was commissioned with the creation of a life-sized bronze figure of a brewer. Towards the end of the Second World War, this figure was lost when the Hofbräuhaus was destroyed by bombing-raids conducted by the Allies. During the festivities to mark the 400th year of Hofbräuhaus am Platzl in June 2007, former finance minister, Dr. Kurt Falthauser, presented the Sperger family, the innkeepers, with a small plaster figurine of the lost sculpture, and promised that this figure, in its original size, would once again sit atop the Hofbräuhaus in time for the celebrations commemorating the 850th birthday of the city of Munich. During an official ceremony on June 20, 2008, the bronze figure, named “Julius” after its creator, was hoisted with a crane and fixed to the north side of the Hofbräuhaus oriel. After 63 years, the ‘patron saint of brewers’ once again graces the roof of the Hofbräuhaus.