One of the first questions many people ask when they see Munich's majestic gothic cathedral of "Dom zu unserer lieben Frau" ("Frauenkirche" to locals, "Cathedral of our Dear Lady" in english, so basically, St. Mary's, but no one would ever call it by that name) and compare it to other cities like Regensburg or Cologne, or the gothic cathedrals of France or England is ... why brick?
The answer is simple once you understand it:
The Isar river is a shallow mountain (glacial) river that flows from the mountains through Munich and onwards downstream to the Danube.
What?
Simple. Back in the days when the cathedral was built (1468-1488, to be exact, on the grounds of its 12th century romanesque predecessor), they simply had no means of transporting large blocks of stone. It is what it is, and it's brick for that reason.
Fun fact:
You can "date" many buildings by the materials used: large sandstone blocks means the building was built after the railroad connected Munich with the quarries.
But be careful:
Once sandstone became an "in" thing in Munich, many older brick buildings were plastered over to hide the bricks that were so passé ...
But not the cathedral: it is red brick to this day.
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