The World's Largest Festival

The History

Crown Prince Ludwig, later to become King Ludwig I, was married to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen on October 17, 1810. The citizens of Munich were invited to attend the festivities held on the fields in front of the city gates to celebrate the happy royal event. The fields were named Theresienwiese ("Theresa's meadow") in honor of the Crown Princess, and have kept that name ever since, although the locals have since abbreviated the name simply to the "Wies'n".

Horse races in the presence of the Royal Family marked the close of the event that was celebrated as a festival for the whole of Bavaria. The decision to repeat the horse races in the subsequent year gave rise to the tradition of the Oktoberfest.

"The festival was eventually prolonged and moved ahead to September to allow for better weather conditions. Today, the last day of the festival is the first Sunday in October. In 2006, the Oktoberfest extended two extra days because the first Tuesday, October 3, was a national holiday. Over the past 200 years, Oktoberfest was canceled 24 times due to cholera epidemics and war.


2013: The 180th Oktoberfest has started!!

© Oktoberfest.de
The Major of Munich tapping the first barrel

Saturday, 12 o'clock - high noon in the "Schottenhamel" beer tent: By tapping the first barrel of beer, Christian Ude started the 180th Oktoberfest.

With the experience of almost two decades in office, Christian Ude, Mayor of Munich, has started the Oktoberfest by tapping the first barrel of beer in the Schottenhamel tent.

With two strikes, Ude drove the tap into the barrel and spoke the magic words: "O'zapft is!" - "It's tapped!"

The first mug of beer was then handed to the Bavarian Prime Minister, Horst Seehofer.

Next year, somebody else will serve the beer to Horst Seehofer: Christian Ude is in his last year as Mayor of Munich and won't be able to run for office again, as he has reached the maximum number of terms.

As in all the years bevor, Christian Ude ended the opening ceremony by wishing everybody a peaceful Oktoberfest..