Palais Preysing, Munich

The Preysing Palace in Munich was the city's first building in the fancy Rococo style. It was home to the Preysing noble family and sits right across from the big Residenz Royal Palace. Joseph Heffner, an architect, was the one who planned and built it between 1723 and 1728 for a guy named Count Johann Maximilian of Preysing. The same family had another palace close by, the Palais Neuhaus-Preysing. People started referring to the first one as the Elder Palais Preysing to tell the two apart.

World War II bombs nearly demolished the palace, but it was fixed up in the 1950s. Nowadays, it's got fancy stores and shops inside. The palace is known for its elaborate exterior with fancy plasterwork. Inside, it's also got a lot of plaster decorations. One of its special features is this grand staircase that's got statues of women on either side. You can actually go in and see this staircase.

There's this little alley behind the palace called the Viscardigasse, linking two squares, which locals have nicknamed "Drueckebergergasse." This name came about during Hitler's time because he ordered everyone passing by the nearby Feldherrnhalle, a beer hall close to Preysing Palace, to salute in memory of his fallen supporters from an earlier clash with police, called the Beer Hall Putsch. The alley became a way for people to get around having to salute, as a quiet act of defiance. The term "Drueckeberger" is a jab at people avoiding their responsibilities in German slang.