Olympiapark (Munich)

Location and structure

The use of the term Olympiapark to designate the overall area has prevailed as a semiofficial practice, but no official name for the entire area exists: Rather, the general area comprises four separate sub-areas:

The park is located in the Milbertshofen-Am Hart borough near BMW Group headquarters and the "Uptown" skyscraper of O2. Georg-Brauchle-Ring divides the area into two halves: Olympic Village and Olympia Pressestadt to the north and Olympic Area and Olympic Park to the south.

History

After the International Olympic Committee in 1966 awarded Munich the Olympic Games, plans were solidified for the urban redevelopment of the Oberwiesenfeld area. Up until 1939, Oberwiesenfeld had largely been used as an airfield; however, the then-recently opened Munich-Riem airport left the Oberwiesenfeld area largely idle. Under Nazi plans for the development of Munich into the "Capital of the Movement," this area was supposed to have served as the central slaughterhouse and marketplace. The Second World War, however, hindered the implementation of this plan. After 1945, the Oberwiesenfeld area remained fallow, and was known as a "Trümmerberg," which in German refers to a hill erected from the ruins caused by the destruction caused by bombings during the war. In October 1957, since the US Army had facilities at the Oberwiesefeld, most of the refugees from the Hungarian Revolution were camped at this facility. Apart from infrastructure projects such as the Oberwiesenfeld Ice Rink, Oberwiesenfeld remained largely vacant, and as such was an ideal place for the construction of the Olympic Stadium.

The concept of a "green Olympic Games" was chosen, and so too was the orientation toward the ideals of democracy. Officials sought to integrate optimism toward the future with a positive attitude toward technology, and in so doing set aside memories of the past, such as the Olympic Games of 1936 in Berlin. The architecture firm of Günther Behnisch and its partners developed a comprehensive master plan for the sports and recreation area, which was under construction from 1968 until 1972. The landscape layout was designed by landscape architect Günther Grzimek. The eye-catching tensile structure that covers much of the park was designed by German architect and engineer Frei Otto with Günther Behnisch. In all, the project cost 1.35 billion German Marks to complete.

The name "Olympiapark" itself arose from the city's administrative commission for the naming of metro stations along the U- and S-Bahn routes in the city area, which on November 3, 1969 had chosen the name "Olympiapark" for the name of the Olympic station's stop along the U3 line of the Munich U-Bahn. This naming decision was based on the idea that the name "Olympiapark" related well to the central theme of a "green Olympic Games" and also to the central function of the U-Bahn station, which, in conjunction with the bus station, serviced all sports venues and important sectors of the area. Thereafter, the term quickly entered into quasi-official common parlance, and consequently into media coverage, so that in most situations, the meaning established by the administrative commission is used to describe the entire area, not merely the U-Bahn station, as was originally intended.

Transportation

Using public transportation, the Munich U-Bahn's U3 line provides a direct route: From Münchner Freiheit (a plaza in the Munich district of Schwabing, located on Leopoldstraße), the line connects to Olympiapark via Schwabing and the midtown area. In 2007, the U3 line was extended to continue on to Oberwiesenfeld station at the northern end of the Olympic Village and Olympia-Einkaufszentrum mall at the far areas of the Park. The continuation to Moosach, where the line connects to the S1 S-Bahn line, was completed in 2010. Olympiazentrum U-Bahn station is a central stop for the MVG bus line. The southern and western portions of the Olympiapark will also be connected via Munich tram lines 12, 20, 21, and 27, which, given their remoteness from the northern part of Olympiapark, are primarily of interest for the annual Tollwood music festival held there each summer.

Between 1972 and 1988 the Olympiastadion Station existed, which was oft-snubbed at events. Currently, the station is abandoned continues to decay.

The Olympiapark is accessible by car via Mittlerer Ring motorway. The Olympic Village itself is closed off from car traffic.

The Olympic Area in detail

The Olympic Area lies south of Georg-Brauchle-Ring and north of the Olympiasee lake; it is the smallest portion of the entire Olympiapark area. It comprises the following competition sites:

Olympic Stadium

The central Stadium, constructed from 1968 to 1972, was designed by the architecture firm of Behnisch and Partners. It is currently home to the highest number of staged national and international competitions in Germany. Originally constructed to hold 80,000 visitors, this number was reduced at the end of the 1990s to 69,000 due to security concerns. Following the close of the Olympic Games, the Stadium was used primarily for football matches and served as the home stadium of the FC Bayern München and TSV 1860 München teams. Since the opening of the Allianz Arena in 2005, the site is used almost exclusively for cultural events.

Olympic Hall

Also designed by the architecture firm of Behnisch and Partners, Olympic Hall is a sport and recreational facility located northeast of the Olympic Stadium. Its capacity is 12,150 with seats, or 14,000 without seats.

Small Olympic Hall

Smaller event facility at the Olympic Hall for up to 1,000 seated individuals, according to stage size.

Aquatic Center

This venue became an integral part of Olympic history when the US swimmer Mark Spitz won 7 gold medals there during the 1972 Munich Games. This amounted to a remarkable comeback for Mark Spitz, who had fallen short of the 5 gold medals expected of him at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. The venue also saw significant success by the young women's team of the GDR, which was later found - albeit, the matter was essentially an open secret - to be the result of an extensive doping programme.

One notable feature of the Munich Schwimmhalle is the way in which the cobbled paths leading to the venue continue under the canopy as far as the top of the seating area, thus creating the genuine impression of walking in off the street to one's seat. The venue is available both to swimming teams and also to the public.

Olympic Ice Rink

In 1980 it was decided to build a roof over the existing open air ice skating rink in order to have it operational during the whole year independent of the weather conditions. The German architectural firm Ackermann und Partner designed an elegant light-weight tensile structure spanning 100 meters length-wise. The building was completed in 1983.

Olympic Tower

The Olympiaturm has an overall height of 291 m and a weight of 52,500 tonnes. At a height of 190 m there is an observation platform as well as a small rock and roll museum housing various memorabilia. Since its opening in 1968 the tower has registered over 35 million visitors (as of 2004). At a height of 182 m there is a revolving restaurant that seats 230 people. A full revolution takes 53 minutes. The tower has one Deutsche Telekom maintenance elevator with a speed of 4 m/s, as well as two visitor lifts with a speed of 7 m/s which have a capacity of about 30 people per cabin. The travel time from the ground to the viewing platform is about 30 seconds.

Olympic Village

Olympia Pressestadt

The Olympia Pressestadt lies west of the Olympiapark between Landshuter Allee in the east and Riesstraße in the west. It is the site of the former media center and today provides regular housing.

Carillon

The carillon, built in 1972, is one of five carillons in Bavaria.

Munich Olympic Walk Of Stars

In 2003 the Munich Olympic Walk of Stars was constructed as a path from the Olympic Sea, als Weg am Olympiasee, in the style of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Celebrities leave their hand- and footprints behind in the concrete. Singer Howard Carpendale was the first to do so, and since then roughly 30 personalities from culture and sport have left impressions of themselves behind.

Olympic Hall

Olympic Swim Hall

They opened at 17.1.1970

Open-Air Theatron

Others

Education and learning

Health

Sport

Memorials