History of the stadium since the beginning of the 20th century
Theeyes of Poles and Austrians, whose national teams will be fighting to get out of their groups at this year's Euros, will be directed at the Berlin stadium today. Waves of fans will flow through German cities, who, in addition to the condition of their teams, will also evaluate the sports infrastructure of the championship. In such a situation, it is worthwhile to introduce the history of the facility, which many of us will look at with tremendous tension for 90 minutes. And it is one of a kind.
It begins with the decision of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who at the very beginning of the 20th century earmarked the northern areas of the Grunewald district for sports and recreation. So on May 23, 1909, the horse racing track, which was designed by architect Otto March, was opened. The track seated 40,000 spectators, and at its center was an 85,000-square-meter pit that would later serve as the foundation for a stadium when, a few years later, Berlin was successful in its bid to host the 1916 Olympics. The same architect was engaged to build the new Deutsches Stadion.
Map of the area around the Olympic Stadium in Berlin
OpenStreetMap | Wikimedia Commons © CC-BY-SA 2.0
The Olympic Stadium in Berlin in the service of propaganda
World War I postponed Berliners' Olympic plans. After coming to power, the Nazis quickly saw the propaganda potential in hosting the Games, so to stage the Olympics in grand style, they demolished Deutsches Stadion. In place of the old arena, Ott's son Werner was to design a new, better and bigger one. Now the plan called for not just a stadium, but an entire sports complex - the Reichssportfeld, the elements of which were the Olympischer Platz, the main Olympic stadium, the parade ground with the so-called Führerloge and bell tower, Coubertinplatz (in honor of the modern renewer of the idea of the Olympic Games), and a swimming pool with spectator stands. Construction companies were forced to hire only workers of German nationality and Aryan race. The work was long and expensive. The Summer Olympics officially began on August 1, 1936. Commemorated by Leni Riefenstahl, the competition made history thanks to Jesse Owens, an American black athlete who, in spite of Nazi propaganda, won as many as four gold medals. The Polish accent was the match played during the soccer competition. To this day, this is the last match of the Polish national team in this stadium.
Photograph of the Olympiastadion in 1936.
Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R82532 | Wikimedia Commons © CC-BY-SA 3.0
During the early years of the war, the stadium became an arena for Hitlerjugend competitions. By the end of 1944, Allied bombing had become increasingly intense, so the stadium's underground facilities served as the makeshift headquarters of Großdeutscher Rundfunk, the Nazi national radio station. After the German surrender, Berlin's Olympic Stadium lost one of its symbols: in 1947, the British government ordered the demolition of the damaged bell tower. The fall of the bell marked it with a long crack.
Berlin's Olympiastadion after the war
Step by step, more parts of the Reichssportfeld, which had been plowed through with war damage, were returned to the German authorities. In 1950, the Berlin Parliament decided to rename the Reichssportfeld to Olympiastadion. Thanks to the efforts of Werner March, a new bell was installed in 1956. The architect also succeeded in reconstructing the bell tower, which was completed after two years in 1962. The new tower was 77.17 meters high, almost a meter more than its predecessor. In 1966, West Berlin preservationists decided to put the stadium site under protection.
The entrance to Berlin's Olympic Stadium from Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf
Photo: Dietmar Rabich | Wikimedia Commons © CC BY-SA 4.0
renewal chapter
For the 1974 World Cup, the stadium received a partial canopy over the north and south stands, designed by architects Dübbers and Krahe. A total of 26,000 seats were now protected from bad weather. In addition, the press stands and audience bathrooms were upgraded. The seats for reporters were separated by a Plexiglas wall.
In 2000, Berlin began preparing for the next Olympics. The renovation was carried out without closing the stadium: despite being a huge construction site, matches continued to be played there. Required by the Federal Office for Historic Preservation, the full view of the Maifeld and the bell tower remained intact by the builders. The new, seemingly floating roof is supported by 20 filigree steel columns standing in the upper ring. Advanced lighting technology and an audio system with more than 150,000 watts of power have been integrated into the roof.
Berlin stadium at night
Photo: Tobi 87 | Wikimedia Commons © CC BY 3.0
The new Olympiastadion Berlin reopened in 2004. UEFA quickly qualified the venue as a Five-Star-Stadium, placing it on its list of the best stadiums in Europe. To earn such a distinction, it had to meet stringent conditions. In its 56,616 square meters, Olympiastadion has 74,245 seats, each of which is an individual seat with backrest. The section for people with disabilities has 174 covered seats. The five-star stadium can accommodate VIPs in 52 boxes and 13 skyboxes. UEFA also requires sufficient space for fan zone tents in the immediate vicinity of the stadium.
The structure of the new roof of Berlin's Olympiastadion
Photo: Marcus Brendt | © gmp Architekten
The new roof structure by {tag:pracownie} and engineering firm Krebs and Kiefer was honored with a steel structure award by Bauen mit Stahl e.V.- one of Germany's oldest architectural awards.
Not surprisingly, Robert Lewandowski triumphed in such conditions - as a player in the German league he scored as many as 13 goals on the Berlin turf. The short history of the Polish presence in the stadium gives hope that today our national team will manage to win the "match for everything".
Ania Kociucka
[compiled from materials from the official Olympiastadion website].
