Last month I started the series of articles called “Arenas”, where I will talk about sports objects that I have visited. The first time we talked about the Monte Carlo Grand Prix track in Monaco and today's post is about the Olympic Stadium in Berlin (Olympiastadion), that I visited previous week.

Firstly the place where the stadium is located was called OlympiaPark and was built before the summer Olympic Games in 1916, which did not take place because of the First World War. After Hitler became the Germany leader and received the right to host the 1936 Olympics, the authorities of the Third Reich payed their attention to the park and the hippodrome located on it and decided to build a modern at that time arena at that place. The building process went during three years and they could do their best - the stadium accommodated 86 thousand spectators, the Games opening ceremony took place there, and it was broadcasted live on TV for the first time in history. During the Second World War the Olympiastadion was suffered, but was restored in the middle of sixties, and then renovated to the 1974 World Cup. After the Germany Reunification Olympiastadion became the main sports arena in Berlin, where such events took place as the women's and men's world football championships, stages of the Diamond League, world and European athletics championships, the final match of the Champions League and many other competitions. In addition, the stadium is the home arena of Hertha, although it is worth noting that the stadium does not belong to the club.

There is May Field from the west side of the stadium. It was user by Nazi for mass events, bell tower is situated behind it with fascinating view from the top of it.

Tower has its bell with symbols of Olympic Games - 1936. But it is not original bell, it is just replica. The original one was damaged during World War II. It lies at the stadium's territory.

New bell
Old bell

At the entrance visitors can see two pillars with Olympic rings on it. There are also two such pillars on the stadium territory but without rings on it.

Stadium tour is a must-have event, especially if you like such kind of time spending. The tour begins with the tribunes and VIP zone overview, which is located in the same place where the top of the National Socialist Party was watching the Olympics.

There is a trench between spectators and sportsmen. It protects athletes form the most active fans.

Then visitors are shown hospitality area, that was built some years ago. It fits about 4,000 people and is located on eight levels (floors). There are thematic zones inside the hospitality area. One of the zones is dedicated to the legendary athlete Jesse Owens, who managed to win 4 gold medals at the 1936 Olympics: in the 100 and 200 meters running, in the long jump, and as part of the American relay team in the 4x100 race. The victory of an African American athlete could make a serious blow to the games because of the Nazi’s attitude to people from Africa, but during the Olympics German authorities did everything to create a positive impression, so no discrimination or disrespect incidents towards participants were detected. Guide said that among the last VIP guests visiting the stadium, the story of Jesse Owens made the most impression on Beyonce and LeBron James.

After visiting hospitality zone the guide suggested us to go close to the field and walk through the players path wheb they return to the dressing room. If you want to go to the locker room you need to go up with a rather high staircase. There is an escalator next to the stairs, but it was built before the 2015 Champions League final, and during the World Cup 2006 it was not there, and the players had to overcome this climb on foot, which caused a lot of complaints.

Press conference room
Warm-up area thar is used as a conference hall sometimes

It is interesting that running track at the stadium is blue and warm-up area has more traditional - browm color. It is explained with ecinimic reason: brown is more cheap than blue one, so they use brown in warm-up area.

In the western part of the stadium there is a kind of "cut-out", where the Olympic flame cup is located. Also there are memorial plaques about the events of the Games - 1936.

There are some interesting places outside the stadium. First of all it is outdoor pool that is public and can be visited by any persom if it is good weather outside.

Nor far away from the pool there are plaques with all results of German football Cup finals (DFB - Pokal). You can notice that design was chaden in the last 2 years.

Next to the it there is an alley of football stars' hand and foot-prints. As a rule field players have footprints, goalkeepers have handprints, but there is one remarkable print where foot and hand are represented. This original player is goalkeeper Jorg Sievers.

The last remarkable place I visited is the stelaes with the names of German olympionists at each Olympiad. The latest Stella is devoted to the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City - 2002 and the summer in Athens - 2004.

My tour was over at this place, and I went for the exit through the stadium and Hertha store. In general, the stadium left me with very strange feelings: on the one hand, this is a truly legendary place associated with a large number of great events, and on the other hand, everything at the stadium is made in a very simple style, the prevailing color is gray (running tracks are a pleasant exception ), which once again underlines the rational attitude of the Germans to everything that surrounds them. For example, Mestalla, a less eventful arena in Valencia, looks much more festive, that creates the holiday feeling during visit. At the Berlin Stadium I did not feel such holiday. Despite this, I still recommend that all sports fans should visit Olympiastadion because it is one of the richest in the historical sense places in the world.