The Olympic Park in Munich

More than 50 years have passed since the Olympic Games in Munich and this major event still leaves its mark on the city. We know the Olympic Park like the back of our hand and will show you the architectural highlights as well as some insider tips that not everyone knows about.

Olympic Tower

At 291 meters, the Olympic Tower is the tallest building in the city. Nowhere else can you get closer to the sky above Munich. Of course, the tower with its viewing platform also offers the best view of the city, the surrounding area and the Alps to the south. However, the striking building has been closed for two years since June 2024 for renovation work.

Olympic Stadium

The Olympic Stadium used to be the home ground of FC Bayern and TSV 1860 Munich, but that was a really long time ago. However, the venerable stadium is still a cult venue for former Olympic, world and European champions and is also a place that world stars from pop and rock love as an open-air venue.

With its architectural lightness and its open concept under the curved tent roof, the Olympic Stadium became the epitome of the cosmopolitan and democratic guiding principle of the 1972 Summer Games. At the Olympics themselves, the track and field athletes competed for medals here, and two years later Germany’s footballers were crowned world champions. FC Bayern also played under the tent roof for 33 years and laid the foundations here for 17 German championships and five victories in the European Cup and Champions League. In addition to many other major sporting events such as the European Football Championships (1988) and the European Athletics Championships (2002, 2022), the stadium was the venue for unforgettable open-air concerts with the biggest acts from the world of pop and rock every year. From the Rolling Stones to Michael Jackson, from Prince to Pink Floyd. The Olympic Stadium, a legendary venue where John Paul II preached, Franz Beckenbauer kicked and Bruce Springsteen rocked.

Olympic Hall

As the second largest park location, the Olympic Hall has been the venue for a wide variety of events for decades. From major sporting events and pop concerts to operas, classical concerts, gala shows and exhibitions. The extensively renovated Olympic Hall is a shining example of the successful reuse of a 1972 Olympic sports venue.

At the Summer Games, it was the venue for the gymnastics competitions and the handball finals, and in the decades that followed, the Olympic Hall developed into the most versatile event location in the park. Sold-out pop and rock concerts by top international acts, world and European championships in various sports, colorful galas and thrilling shows on a wide variety of surfaces. Whether the figure skating spectacle of Holiday On Ice or the Munich Indoors horse show, whether Elton John or Helene Fischer, Eric Clapton or Ed Sheeran, whether international titles in handball, tennis and basketball.

Olympic swimming pool

Dive into the pool of the Olympic stars. In 1972, Mark Spitz was crowned the most successful athlete of the Summer Games with seven gold medals. Today, this historic location is one of Munich’s most popular indoor pools. Munich’s only public 50-metre indoor pool has hosted the German Championships six times and offers perfect training conditions for numerous sports clubs, recreational and top swimmers. In addition to the five pools, other highlights include a diving facility from which you can plunge into the water from three, five or ten meters, a separate paddling area for children, a sauna area with its own snow cabin to boost the immune system and a fitness center.

Small Olympic Hall

The perfect event location for exhibitions, concerts and congresses: Harmoniously embedded in the landscape of the Olympic Park, the Small Olympic Hall, which opened in 2011, offers space for up to 3,600 guests.

At first glance, it is difficult to find, hidden under a green grass roof. Right next to the Olympic Hall and the indoor swimming pool, a few steps lead down to a gem of the Olympic Park, the Small Olympic Hall. A multifunctional venue with a direct connection to the large Olympic Hall via a tunnel. The ideal location for pop and rock concerts, musicals and shows. Since its opening, the Small Olympic Hall has also attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors as an exhibition venue, whether for Gunther von Hagen’s “Body Worlds”, the celebrated “Tutankhamun” show or the exciting “Dino World”. Thanks to its modern facilities, the hall is a perfect venue for congresses, conferences, presentations and business meetings.

Olympic Lake

Although swimming is prohibited, the Olympic Lake in the middle of the Olympic Park offers a few other ways to pass the time, for example with boat hire or a beach bar in high summer. The lake is over a kilometer long and measures more than 200 meters at its widest point. Since 2003, the “Olympic Walk of Stars”, which is reminiscent of the Walk of Fame in Los Angeles with handprints of numerous stars and well-known personalities, has been located on the lake promenade at the foot of the Olympic Tower. So far, the Dalai Lama, Tom Jones, Bon Jovi, Metallica, Genesis, Liza Minnelli, Elton John, Die Toten Hosen, B.B. King, Aerosmith and Kiss, among others, have immortalized themselves there.

Theatron

Atmospheric meeting place for balmy summer evenings with loud sounds. For decades, the Theatron on the shores of Lake Olympia has been the venue for an annual music festival for up-and-coming artists. Many later famous bands had their first big gigs here, such as the Scorpions or Sportfreunde Stiller.

In 1972, the amphitheater below the indoor swimming pool was a central venue for the famous “Spielstraße”. The Theatron was the stage for dance and theater, artists, jugglers and performances during the cultural program of the Summer Games. From 1974, Munich’s music scene met here regularly for summer open-air concerts, and the Theatron soon became an integral part of the city’s cultural life. In 2002, the world’s longest music festival with concerts on 32 consecutive days was entered in the Guinness Book of Records. Concerts by local stars such as the rhythm’n’blues combo Supercharge have seen up to 7,000 people crowd the stone steps.

Tent roof

The tent roof is an architectural highlight in Munich’s Olympic Park. It spans the indoor swimming pool, the Olympic Hall and parts of the Olympic Stadium as well as the walkways in between. The 74,800 square meter roof landscape consists of cable nets suspended from pylons up to 80 meters high and clad with acrylic glass panels. The architecture enjoys high international recognition, is one of Munich’s landmarks and is a listed building.

Connollystrasse in the Olympic Village

The street in the Olympic Village was named in 1971 after James Connolly, the first Olympic champion of modern times (1896). The well-known sculpture “Olympic Rings” is located on the street, which is equipped with blue pipes as a guidance system. On the other hand, there is also an important place of remembrance: 31 Connollystraße was the apartment of the Israeli Olympic team that was taken hostage in 1972.

Olympic assassination memorial

Opened in 2017, the memorial to the twelve victims of the Olympic attack on the Israeli team on 5 September 1972 is located just 200 meters from the main crime scene in what was then the Olympic Village. You can find out more about the eleven athletes and the police officer who were killed in the attack and relive the dramatic events. The pavilion in a cut in the grounds is intended to “raise awareness and sensitize people to the omnipresent dangers to our freedom and our democracy”.

Women’s village in the Olympic Village

The former women’s Olympic village in the south of the area is now a student housing complex. Characteristic of the flat bungalows is the painting of the front doors and facades, which is an expression of European youth culture. Just wander through the corridors, you’ll find plenty of photo opportunities here! From 2007 to 2010, the bungalows were rebuilt in agreement with the monument authorities, as an energy-efficient renovation of the exposed concrete buildings did not appear to make sense.

Olympic mountain

With its height of 60 meters, the summit of the Olympiaberg is quite easy to reach. From the very top, there is a magnificent view of the Olympic Park, Munich and the Alps. For decades, the Olympiaberg has also been a popular destination for music fans with picnic blankets, who can listen to open-air concerts here free of charge.

The hill was built between 1948 and 1957 as a pile of rubble from the ruins of houses and buildings destroyed in Munich during the Second World War. Today, a detour to the Olympiaberg is an obligatory part of a visit to the park for many. The summit is particularly atmospheric and romantic at sunrise and sunset. The north slope has been the venue for international winter sports events on several occasions, in the 1980s for the world’s best female alpine racers in a parallel slalom, and in 2001 the snowboarders met here for a World Cup race. On New Year’s Day 2011 and 2013, a total of 42,000 people watched the city event of the Alpine World Cup, a parallel slalom for women and men.

East-West Peace Church

The small chapel is also popularly known as the church of Father Timofey, a Russian hermit. It was built in the 1950s by him and his wife Natasha without planning permission right next to a hut they had also built themselves. The church was completely destroyed by fire in June 2023, but is to be reconstructed thanks to an initiative by former Mayor Christian Ude. At least the adjacent buildings have been preserved, and a small museum wonderfully illustrates the “early history” of the Olympic Park.

SAP Garden

This state-of-the-art multi-purpose hall will be Munich’s new center for ice hockey and basketball. The SAP Garden will officially open in September 2024. With a capacity of up to 11,500 seats, it will provide a new home for EHC Red Bull Munich and FC Bayern Basketball. Two German champions under one roof.

The place has seen a lot. In 1972, the world’s best track cyclists raced for Olympic medals here, and later the Olympic Spirit adventure museum moved in. Following the demolition of the Olympic cycling stadium in 2015, the foundation stone for Munich’s new multifunctional arena was laid in February 2021. In addition to top-class sport, three ice rinks will also be available for school, leisure and popular sports. The Danish architecture firm 3XN and the landscape architects from Latz und Partner ensured the harmonious integration into the Olympic Park.