The massive rennaissance-style building, a former schoolhouse, was struck by a bomb in World War Two and was greatly in need of renovation. The challenge: to maintain the beauty of the house, and to redesign it through the interplay of tradition and modernity, old substance and contemporary function. The Munich-based architectural firm Kiessler + Partner has succeeded in exemplary fashion, in the creation of a balanced, harmonious solution.

The planners crowned the building with a light steel and glass construction that opens up a breathtaking view of the cuppola of the Theatiner Church and over the rooftops of Munich. Today, this uppermost floor is alluring to all of the house's visitors.

On the two floors below, the schoolhouse character of the house is still easily recognizable: the offices of the various institutions are lined up along the generous hallway. The former gymnasium of the girls' school in the first floor serves the German Book Archive and the Foundation Literature House as a library, where readings are also held.

No Literature House can go without a literary cafe. By good weather, the Salvator Square becomes the sunny boulevard of the Munich Literature House.
The cafe regularly combines the culinary and the literary. Always present is a digital installation by American artist Jenny Holzer, that she dedicated to the writer Oskar Maria Graf. Quotations selected from his works can be seen on an electronic message board, stamps with "Graf"ic" vocabulary are found on the furniture, the tableware, and the table settings.

Back to back with the cafe you will find the exhibit hall. The generous windows and the five columns create a light atmosphere that is delightful for both visitors and exhibit planners alike.

Whoever goes in search of the Literature House in the middle of Munich's old city is treading on historical ground. The Theatiner church and the pedestrian zone are merely a stone's throw away, the old facades of the banking houses and the Luitpold block are right next door. Here, on Salvator Square, rises the renovated home of the Munich Literature House.

The Salvator Church was established in 1480 as a cemetary parish. The cemetary itself, which originally surrounded the church, became a marketplace in the 18th century. When the Munich's city magistrate decided to build a schoolhouse on the square in 1885, the beloved market was integrated into its ground floor.

The school lessons took place in the floors above the marketplace. In 1906, the market business ceased, in 1925 the elementary school was transformed into the first girls' secondary school in Bavaria. In 1944, a bomb struck and destroyed much of the uppermost floor. Until 1995, the building was used by the city music school and other city establishments as well as the Russian Orthodox community for lodging purposes.

In 1993, the Munich City Council decided to apply to a new use as Literature House to the building, which was much in need of renovation. The City of Munich founden the Foundation Book Media and Literature House together with publishers in a public-private partnership. Under their sovereignty, the renovation and restoration of the building and its square began in May of 1995. Just two years later, in June of 1997, the Literature House Munich opened its gates.