Olympic Stadium

Constructed for the 1936 Olympics, this impressive stadium now serves as the home field for Hertha BSC, Berlin’s local soccer team, and hosts other large-draw events such as concerts, sporting events, and the annual fireworks world championship.

Originally opened in 1909 as a racetrack for the upper-class equestrian crowd, the site was chosen to host the 1916 Summer Olympics. The resulting stadium—built by architect Otto March in a record 200 days—was designed to accommodate 30,000 spectators; though the Olympics themselves never arrived, falling victim to the First World War. Twenty years later the Nazi regime commissioned a new stadium on the same site for the 1936 Olympics. The triumphalist architecture, greatly influenced by the aesthetics of National Socialism, was designed by Walter and Werner March, sons of the original architect.

After the war the stadium and surrounding area fell under jurisdiction of the the British occupation authorities, who renovated the stadium and returned it for use by the German soccer leagues. Now listed as an historical landmark, the stadium recently underwent a 242 million Euro renovation—gaining a new roof in the process—and reopened in time to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup.