The Municipal Stadium
In the 1920s, the City of Nuremberg created an extensive sports and leisure park to the east of the Dutzendteich lake.
The Municipal Stadium was built between 1926 and 1928 to accommodate 50,000 spectators and was the focal point of the entire park.
A view of the leisure park showing the range of different spaces including a large swimming pool
A cantilver concrete roof covered one of the seating areas of the Municipal Stadium
Although the stadium has a certain 3rd Reich appearance......it has a "stripped-down" look, Hitler actually found the Municipal Stadium's architecture too modernist and "un-German."
The stadium was built in the New Objectivity style of the 1920s which Hitler and the Nazis later condemned as "degenerate".
Hitler was so unimpressed by the stadium that he ordered Speer to build a massive new German Stadium.
However, from 1933, the stadium (renamed Stadion der Hitlerjugend - Stadium of the Hitler Youth) was modified by adding a central, elevated speaker's pulpit, a wooden grandstand flanked by towers on the opposite side to the main grandstand and widened entrances.
Additionally it was "re-styled" with massive banners and flags which Albert Speer, described as "wind made visible" and symbolised power.
Additionally it was "re-styled" with massive banners and flags which Albert Speer, described as "wind made visible" and symbolised power.
The Führer podium and the additional towers and grandstand can be seen in this picture
Hitler waits before addressing the crowd
Tens of thousands wait for the Führers address
A highlight of the event was when Hitler's car drove around the perimeter track of the stadium