OLYMPIAPARK

Description

Essentials about the Olympiapark in brief

Venue of the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, the Olympiapark (Olympic Park) in the north of the city is now one of the most popular leisure and recreation areas for Munich residents. The competition venues are still used today as a venue for sporting events. In addition, the extensive park offers a varied range of leisure activities and is the venue for many concerts, exhibitions and events.

The grounds of the Olympiaparks

The designation “Olympiapark” for the entire site has largely become accepted in everyday language. Strictly speaking, however, the Olympiapark is divided into four different areas: The Olympiagelände (Olympic Grounds), the area of the sports facilities with the Olympiastadion (Olympic Stadium), the Olympiahall (Olympic Hall) as well as the Olympiaturm (Olympic Tower), the Olympische Dorf (Olympic Village), the Olympia-Pressestadt (Olympic Press City), today a residential area with a shopping center, and the actual Olympiapark (Olympic Park) with the Olympiaberg (Olympic Hill) and the Olympiasee (Olympic Lake).

The main attractions and sights in Olympiapark

The Olympiastadion

The Olympiastadion (Olympic Stadium) is the central structure of the Olympiapark and, with its distinctive tent roof, certainly one of the sights of Munich. Among other things, the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1972 Olympic Games were held here. After the end of the Games, the station was mainly used for soccer matches. From 1972 to 2005, the Olympiastadion was home to FC Bayern Munich and, at times, TSV 1860 Munich. In 2005, the players moved to the new Allianz Arena. Since then, the Olympiastadion has largely been used for cultural events.

The Olympiahalle

The Olympiahalle (Olympic Hall), which is 200 meters long and 120 meters wide, hosted the gymnastics and handball competitions in 1972. Today, the hall, which has a capacity of around 14,000, is used as a sports and multi-purpose hall for numerous concerts, musicals, theater performances, but also sports events. The adjacent Kleine Olympiahalle (Small Olympic Hall) is ideal for smaller events.

The Olympiaturm

If you want to get an overview of the entire Olympiapark (and all of Munich) from above, you should pay a visit to the 291-meter-high Olympiaturm (Olympic Tower). From its observation deck, you can enjoy a breathtaking view of the Bavarian capital. Actually, the Olympiaturm had nothing to do with the Olympic Games. The radio and television tower was built between 1965 and 1968 (before the Games) and only later became the landmark of the Olympiapark together with the Olympiastadion. If you want to combine the great view with a delicious meal, you have the opportunity to do so in the rotating restaurant of the tower. In addition, the Olympiaturm is also worth a visit for rock and pop fans, because at a height of 200 meters is the Rock Museum Munich, which offers a great selection of finds and collectibles of the music world.

The Olympia-Schwimmhalle

The Olympia-Schwimmhalle (Olympic Swimming Hall) is now a public swimming pool, but it continues to be used for national and international swimming competitions. In addition to the main pool, there is also a diving pool, a training pool for university sports, a children’s pool and a regeneration pool. For those who want to relax after sports, there is a large Olympic sauna landscape with saunas, steam grottos, sanarium and many other wellness offers.

Other olympic facilities

The former Olympia-Eissportzentrum (Olympic Ice Sports Center) is no longer used for ice hockey and skating, but is now used as an indoor soccer field. You can still play tennis on 14 clay courts at the Olympia-Tennisanlage (Olympic tennis facility). The former Olympia-Radstadion (Olympic Cycling Stadium) was demolished in 2015 and replaced by a new sports hall, which will provide a new home for Munich’s ice hockey and basketball teams.

The Olympiapark

South of the Olympiagelände (Olympic Grounds) lies the actual Olympiapark. With an area of 160 hectares, the park is one of the largest green spaces in Munich. When designing the grounds for the Olympic Games, architect Günther Behnisch had the idea of transforming the sports facilities with lake and adjacent hills into an “Olympic landscape”. The lead landscape architect Günther Grzimek placed the Olympiapark in the context of the social upheaval of the 1960s. Under the motto “taking possession of the lawn,” the park was conceived from the outset as a place of social freedom.

And that is how it is still used by the people of Munich today. In the extensive park, one can pursue just about every conceivable leisure activity and sport: Reading, picnicking and relaxing on the meadows, walking, jogging and skating on the paths, jumping on the trampoline, playing miniature golf or rowing on the Olympiasee (Olympic Lake). In winter, you can even ski and sled on the Olympiaberg (Olympic Hill), which is about 60 meters high.