Olympiastadion, Berlin

The Olympic Stadium in Berlin, is worth a visit for two reasons: 1. It is Germany’s largest stadium for international football. 2. Built in 1936, it is of historic interest.

Olympiastadion Berlin

Olympiastadion is ranked as category four by UEFA (on a scale 1-4, where four is the highest. More info at wikipedia). It was renovated in 2004 and has a capacity of almost 75 000 seats. You can easily travel to the stadium from Berlin by taking the U2 Underground train to the station Olympiastadion.

History of Olympiastadion

In 1931 it was decided that Germany would be the host of the 1936 Olympic summergames. Originally, the idea was to just restore an old stadium but when the nazis came to power they wanted to use the summergames for propaganda. Architect Werner Mach was in charge of the project of building the new “Reichssportfeld” with a totally new Olympic Stadium. The construction took part between 1934 and 1936. Olympiastadion became a part of a 1,32 square kilometres large area filled with sporting facilities for different sports such as football, swimming, field hockey etc. Olympiastadion had room for 110 000 spectators and had a special stand for the dictator Adolf Hitler and his hejduks.

After the end of World War II, the stadium was used as headquarters by the British forces of west Berlin. American troops introduced American Football to the citizens of West Berlin and Hertha BSC played their Bundesliga-matches at the Olympiastadion.

Olympic Stadium Berlin

In the 1990’s the fate of the stadium was discussed: should it be replaced, forgotten or restored? Since it has a somewhat controversial history, it was not an easy decision. However, the decision was to restore the stadium and today it works as a multi-purpose arena. The Champions League final 2015 between Juventus and Barcelona was played here and it is a beautiful piece of architecture worth a visit. Take a walk around the environments, feel the wings of history and time of change, enjoy a Bockwurst and enjoy life. The Olympiastadion in Berlin can be seen as a symbol of what evil forces once were at work here, can be turned into something else: something good. Sport and football unites people around the globe and reminds us of human accomplishments instead of our failures. As Jesse Owens put it:

Find the good. It’s all around you. Find it, showcase it and you’ll start believing it.

More info: http://www.olympiastadion-berlin.de/

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