Murnau am Staffelsee. Murnau am Staffelsee is a market town in the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in the Oberbayern region of Bavaria, Germany. The market originated in the 12th century around Murnau Castle. Murnau is on the edge of the Bavarian Alps, about 70 kilometres south of Munich. Directly to its west is the Staffelsee lake and to the south are the peaks and ridges of the Ammergau Alps beginning with the Hörnle and extending up to the Ettaler Manndl, southwest of the Wetterstein. This mountain range is formed by the Zugspitze and the Alpspitze in the south as well as the Estergebirge with their striking Kistenkar and the Walchensee mountains including Heimgarten and Herzogstand in the southeast. To the south, the Murnauer Moos is the largest continuous wetland of its kind in Central Europe. Murnau was first documented in 1150. It received the right to hold markets from Louis V, Duke of Bavaria, in 1350 and retains the title of Markt to this day. The area around Murnau was already settled in pre-Christian times. From the reign of Septimius Severus, a Roman road called Via Raetia led above the Brenner Pass and Seefeld Saddle through the upper Isar-Loisachtal valleys all the way to Augsburg. The road continued under the name Via Imperii as an imperial road and trade route until the 19th century. Signs of Celtic and Roman settlements have been found on the now-eroded moss area around the Moosberg in the Murnauer Moos.At that time Murnau was no more than a stopping-off point for travellers, called Murau or Mureau. The name Murnau comes from Mure and Aue, referring to the Murnauer Moos and Loisachtal. The first official mention of the church of Saint Nikolaus was in a document of 1300, and the castle is first mentioned in 1324. In 1350 Ludwig der Brandenburger granted Murnau the Blutbann, the Niederlagerecht, and the right to hold a market weekly on Wednesdays and at Michaelmas. From 1632-1648, Murnau was occupied by Swedish and French troops during the Thirty Years' War. Plague broke out in 1634. The church of Saint Nikolaus was rebuilt between 1717 and 1734. In 1722 the town was granted the right to hold the Leonhardimarkt and Skapuliermarkt fairs. In 1803 the Ettal Abbey was dissolved, the office of Pfleger was abolished and Murnau was assigned to the district court of Weilheim. The town suffered a major fire in 1835 and was subsequently almost completely rebuilt, leading to the enclosed townscape seen today. During World War II a POW camp for Polish officers was located here. In 1879 the Weilheim to Murnau railway opened. Ten years later in 1889 the connection to Garmisch opened, followed by the line to Oberammergau in 1900. On the initiative of Emanuel von Seidls, the site of Murnau changed completely at the start of the 20th century.