As Germany slowly recovered from the wounds that the pitiless Thirty Years’ War had inflicted, hardly anything remained of the national art. The always magnificence-seeking princes who were in the process of rebuilding their palaces or erecting new ones directed their eyes beyond the borders. Their attention was particularly directed to France, where Louis XIV was becoming the standard of royal opulence and splendour. Their financial means were frequently insufficient for their lofty ambitions, but they were not to be deterred.
Thus, architecture came first and painting and sculpture remained secondary. In church construction, the profane Italian Baroque style maintained its dominance in Austria. It was characteristic of the nobles there as well as for the Austrian rulers that they turned away from further development of the Baroque style and therefore against the French Rococo style, while in Bavaria and Munich it was still popular. Initially, the architects in South Germany were almost exclusively Italian; they were active in and around Munich and built the Theatinerkirche (1663-1675), the Dreifaltigkeitskirche (1711-1718) and the important palaces in Schleißheim (1616-1623) and Nymphenburg (1664-1675). Among the most important Baroque buildings in Germany are the famous Zwinger in Dresden (1709-1728), the Alte Börse in Leipzig (1678-1687), the St. Stephan Cathedral in Passau (1668-1693) and the Stift Wilten in Austria.
Nevertheless, the first movement against foreign architecture also began in Bavaria. Local building artists adapted the South German building style, while using foreign forms and local materials to suit the living requirements. This resulted in a national coloured method of building which later became popular under the title “Domestic Baroque” and influenced a large part of the South German building art.