Munich (/'mju?n?k/; German: Mnchen, pronounced ['m?n?

n] ( listen) ,[2] Bavarian: Mn

chen pronounced ['m??(:)?]) is the capital and largest city of the German state
of Bavaria, on the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps. Munich is the third la
rgest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg, with a population of around 1.4
9 million.[3] The Munich Metropolitan Region is home to 5.6 million people.[4]
The name of the city is derived from the Old High German term Munichen, meaning
"by the monks". It derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who ran a mon
astery at the place that was later to become the Old Town of Munich; hence the m
onk depicted on the city's coat of arms. Munich was first mentioned in 1158. Fro
m 1255 the city was seat of the Bavarian Dukes. Black and gold
the colours of th
e Holy Roman Empire
have been the city's official colours since the time of Ludw
ig the Bavarian, when it was an imperial residence. Following a final reunificat
ion of the Wittelsbachian Duchy of Bavaria, previously divided and sub-divided f
or more than 200 years, the town became the country's sole capital in 1506. Cath
olic Munich was a cultural stronghold of the Counter-Reformation and a political
point of divergence during the resulting Thirty Years' War, but remained physic
ally untouched despite an occupation by the Protestant Swedes; as the townsfolk
would rather open the gates of their town than risk siege and almost inevitable
destruction[citation needed]. Like wide parts of the Holy Roman Empire, the area
recovered slowly economically. Having evolved from a duchy's capital into that
of an electorate (1623), and later a sovereign kingdom (1806), Munich has been a
centre of arts, culture and science since the early 19th century. The city beca
me the Nazi movement's infamous Hauptstadt der Bewegung (lit.: "Capital of the m
ovement"), and after post-war reconstruction was the host city of the 1972 Summe
r Olympics.