German Stadium, Nuremberg

German Stadium, Nuremberg

The Deutsches Stadion, or German Stadium, was a monumental stadium designed by Albert Speer for the Nazi party rally grounds. Its construction began in September 1937, and was slated for completion in 1943. Like most other Nazi monumental structures however, its construction was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II and never finished.

According to Speer himself, it was inspired not by the Circus Maximus in Rome but by the Panathenaic Stadium of Athens, which had impressed him greatly when he had visited it in 1935. Speer's stadium was a gigantic inflation of its Greco-Roman model, from which he borrowed the horseshoe configuration and the propylaeum, now transformed into a raised, pillared, temple-like structure (Säulenvorhof) attached to the open end of the stadium by an internally pillared courtyard.

Since the stadium was not set like the Panathenaic Stadium structure at the bottom of a gully, but on a flat area of land (24 hectares), its five tiers of seats for 400,000 spectators had to be supported in the usual Roman manner by massive barrel vaults. Speer apparently adopted a horseshoe shape for his building only after rejecting the oval shape of an amphitheater. The latter plan, he claimed, would have intensified the heat and produced psychological discomfort, a comment he does not elucidate.
Sight description based on Wikipedia.

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German Stadium on Map

Sight Name: German Stadium
Sight Location: Nuremberg, Germany (See walking tours in Nuremberg)
Sight Type: Attraction/Landmark

Walking Tours in Nuremberg, Germany

Create Your Own Walk in Nuremberg

Create Your Own Walk in Nuremberg

Creating your own self-guided walk in Nuremberg is easy and fun. Choose the city attractions that you want to see and a walk route map will be created just for you. You can even set your hotel as the start point of the walk.
Hitler's Nuremberg Tour

Hitler's Nuremberg Tour

Despite Nuremberg's storybook appearance, the city's not so distant past is rather dark. Back in 1933, amid the rise of the Third Reich, the Nazis worked really hard to leave their stamp on the city, prettifying it and renovating the architecture in a bid to accommodate their massive rallies and bombastic military parades.

In fact, no other city in Germany is more intertwined with the...  view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 4.9 Km or 3 Miles
Nuremberg Old Town Walking Tour

Nuremberg Old Town Walking Tour

The historical center of Nuremberg, Old Town (German: Altstadt) is easily differentiated from other parts of the city. Divided in two by the Pegnitz River, the district represents a complex architectural ensemble with a maze of historical lanes (e.g. Weissgerbergasse) packed with half-timber houses, linked by centuries-old bridges, such as Maxbrücke, and set against the picturesque backdrops of...  view more

Tour Duration: 3 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 3.8 Km or 2.4 Miles
Nuremberg Introduction Walking Tour

Nuremberg Introduction Walking Tour

The most "German" of all cities in Germany, Nuremberg has witnessed many historic events in its lifetime. Sadly, the first thing immediately associated with Nuremberg is the rise of the Third Reich, the Nazi rallies, and the postwar trials over the Nazi leaders. Indeed, the city was favored by Hitler, who planned to build here a grandiose architectural complex for his party.

...  view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 2.8 Km or 1.7 Miles