The interior of the Walhalla Memorial is often described as Germany’s Hall of Fame, featuring a grand hall of marble busts honoring influential figures from German history.
Seeing the interior of Walhalla Memorial was actually the reason why we made that detour when traveling from Regensburg to Passau. Along the way we stopped to climb up to the temple-like hall and capture a few photos of this unique place.
The Walhalla Hall of Busts
Inside the Walhalla Memorial is an impressive Hall of Busts, a long neoclassical chamber with more than one hundred busts and dozens of plaques honoring personalities connected to the German-speaking world.
Originally the memorial opened with 96 busts, but the collection continues to grow, and new figures are added every few years. Despite often being described as “Germany’s Hall of Fame,” the collection is not limited to Germany, many figures come from other German-speaking regions such as Austria, Switzerland and Anglo-Saxon Britain.
The interior of Walhalla Memorial features some of the most famous names in European history, including Goethe, Beethoven, Brahms, Bach, Strauss, and Einstein. The busts vary in style, reflecting both classical sculpture and more modern interpretations.
Photographing the Walhalla Interior
I found the Walhalla Interior stunningly beautiful, combining the sobriety of the marble tones with the vibrant ceiling in gold and blue and the symmetrical patterns on the floor. In my opinion, a wide shot is best to include this contrast.
One practical thing to know: tripods are generally not allowed inside the Walhalla Memorial, which is common for historic monuments. However, monopods are permitted if they have rubber tips.
Because of this rule, it helps to bring a camera or lens with good low-light performance. Natural light enters through the upper windows on a good day, but the Walhalla Interior is still relatively dim otherwise. Shooting handheld with a wide-angle lens works well.
Is it worth going inside the Walhalla Memorial?
This question can only be answered at a personal level.
While the exterior and the magnificent view from the Walhalla Memorial are free to enjoy, you need to buy a ticket to enter the hall of busts. The visit itself may feel relatively short for some people, especially if they are not interested in architecture or German history.
For us, being inside the Walhalla Memorial gave us a truly special feeling. Surprisingly, despite me growing up in Germany, I had actually never heard of this memorial before researching the trip, not even in school. For historical reasons over the last ninety years, Germans are not that proud of their history.
Yet once inside the Walhalla Memorial, we found many important figures, many of whom I recognize by name. Of course, Daria found it particularly interesting that Nicolaus Copernicus was in here as well, which led to a Polish-German debate about whether or not he should be in Germany’s Hall of Fame.
