Olympiapark is Munich's most ambitious act of civic reinvention — a former Nazi parade ground and wartime rubble heap transformed, for the 1972 Summer Olympics, into one of the most graceful sports and leisure complexes ever built. The tent-like acrylic roof canopy designed by Frei Otto and Günter Behnisch remains a landmark of 20th-century architecture, catching light differently every hour and aging with a kind of effortless cool that modern stadiums rarely manage. The park sits on Schuttberg, a hill literally constructed from the rubble of bombed-out Munich buildings, which gives the landscape a slightly surreal, rolling quality that feels nothing like a purpose-built venue.
Park