The Ludwigstraße is Munich's Grand Avenue, its Sunset Boulevard, its Champs-Élysées. Commisioned from the architect Leo von Klenze by Ludwig I, who found that the city lacked a boulevard worthy of kingdom, it continues as the focal point of Munich's urban dramaturgy. Beginning at Odeonsplatz and stretching to the Siegestor, it is lined with many of the city's institutional buildings (University, State Library and Bank). It should be walked from one end to the other, without foregoing the ritual of rubbing the lion noses in front of the Residenz.