Walhalla is one of the most famous national monuments of the 19th century. Its name alone indicates that it is a memorial. In medieval poetry, Walhalla is the banquet hall of the Germanic gods, where fallen heroes are received. During the Napoleonic Wars, King Ludwig I was looking for a place to honor exemplary German-speaking personalities with busts and plaques and thus give new impetus to the desire for national unity. He commissioned the architect Leo von Klenze to design the monument. After 12 years of construction, Walhalla was inaugurated on
18 October 1842, the 29th anniversary of the Battle of Leipzig.
The building is based on a "poetic idea". The multi-level base not only serves to raise the temple and fit it into the slope, it also symbolizes the rise of those honored from death through their transfiguration to immortality. And the idea is that those honored will achieve immortality in the memory of visitors. Inside, there are over 130 busts of deserving people and numerous commemorative plaques. Among those honored are women and men who have made outstanding contributions to the common good. They are rulers, generals, scientists, politicians, but also numerous artists from the fields of music, literature and the visual arts.
In 1966, the Bavarian State Parliament decided to expand the circle of those honored at intervals of five to seven years.