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Olympiapark – Olympiapark information and pictures

Olympiapark or Olympic Park in Munich, Bavaria was built for the 20th Summer Olympic Games in 1972. The parkland is situated in an area called Oberwiesenfeld. Today, this landmark of the city still serves as a venue for many different events. The place is currently managed by the Olympiapark Munchen GmbH, a state-owned company in Munich.

When plans for the park were prepared, it was designed to last for many years, even after the end of the Olympic Games. Unlike Olympic venues in other parts of the globe, Olympiapark still remains a major tourist attraction of its host city.

Olympic Park

In the park, visitors can find an indoor pool, an ice rink, residential areas, and the Olympic Stadium that was the home of FC Bayern Munchen (the local soccer team) before it moved to the Allianz arena in 2006. The stadium has seats for 80,000 spectators, with Olympic hall taking up to 14,000 people. Visitors enjoy a good climb to the roof which covers the stadium. However, it is only for adventurous people who dare try the experience.

The site of the Olympic Games was built by Gunther Behmisch, Frei Otto & Partners, making it world famous with the construction of a futuristic-looking tent-like roof. PVC-coated polyester fiber is used for the building of the roof. The site comprises of the stadium, Olympiahall, and a swimming pool.

Olympic Park covers an area of 3 square kilometers, and the huge parkland blends perfectly with the cityscape. The place can be reached by U-bahn, an underground transit railway.

In 1925, the terrain of the park was used by the Bayern army. After the end of the Second World War, rubble was transported from the city to the site and was used to shape the landscape of the future park.

Olympiaturm
Situated in the parkland, Olympiaturm is an observation platform used to take a bird view of the whole area. The 290-meter television tower houses a rock and roll museum and a revolving restaurant that can seat 230 people. A full revolution of 53 minutes allows customers to take a good look of the 1972 Olympic site.

Alternatively, visitors of the city can view the site from the Olympiaberg, a 60-meter high hill in Olympiapark which can be reached on foot.

Hohenschwangau castle

Hohenschwangau castle (Hohenschwangau Schlo) (literally meaning “High Swan County Palace”), is a magnificent neo-Gothic castle located in the village of Hohenschwangau, Bavaria near the small city of Fussen in Southern Germany, close to the Austrian border. The structure was built on a hill above the Alpsee (Alp Lake) by King Maximilian of Bavaria in 1830s.

However, the Hohenschwangau Castle was erected on the ruins of a medieval fortress, owned by a family of knights, the Lords of Schwangau, until 16th century. The earliest historical accounts of the fortress date back to the 12th century. After the 16th century, the fortress changed its ownership several times and was seriously damaged in warfare in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

The “renaissance” of the Hohenschwangau Castle occurred in 1830s when Crown Prince Maximilian (later King Maximilian II of Bavaria) visited the place and was strongly attracted by the historic site and its wild picturesque surroundings. He bought the property and rebuilt it in a neo-Gothic style. All reconstruction works were led and supervised by Dominico Quaglio, a famous 19-century architect.

In the early 20th century Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria electrified the building, installed elevators, and soon afterwards, the castle was opened to the public. Today, the castle is privately owned but functions as a public museum. Its interior features works of art and paintings of Bavarian folk heroes and knights. Some rooms contain frescos depicting legends, including Swan Kinght. Every piece of furniture in the castle is a used original, while the Hohenstaufensaal room has a square piano where Wagner entertained Ludwig with excerpts from his oeuvres.

Hohenschwangau Castle is a historic site attracting some 300,000 visitors a year. Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein are among the most visited tourist sites in Germany and visitors can tour both castles with one ticket.

Statue of Liberty

For the many immigrants that flocked from Europe to New York, the Statue of Liberty was the first image they saw of the USA. The statue was a gift from the French government for the 100th birthday of America’s Independence.

Statue of Liberty Design
The statue was designed by a young French sculptor, Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, who was striving to build a statue like the great Colossus that once stood at the Greek island Rhodes.

The statue’s face was modeled after his mother’s and the story goes that the body was modeled after a prostitute.
The crown of Lady Liberty, as the statue is often affectionately called, has seven spikes, symbolizing the Seven Seas across which liberty should be spread. In her left hand she holds a tablet with the Declaration of Independence and in her right hand a torch, symbolizing Enlightenment.
Construction

Statue of Liberty
under constructionThe statue’s steel framework was made by French engineer Gustave Eiffel, better known as the man behind the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Thanks to an ingenious construction consisting of copper plates attached to the metal framework, the statue is flexible enough to withstand heavy storms. Large iron bars attach the framework to a central pylon.

The Statue of Liberty was constructed in Paris, France. It took nine years before it was completed in 1884 after which it was sent to the USA in 214 crates. Even before the arrival of the statue, Bartholdi himself had traveled to the Unites States to discuss the location of the statue with president Ulysses S. Grant. Eventually it was decided tot erect the statue at a small island in the harbor of New York City. Today the island is known as Liberty Island. Liberty IslandThe biggest and most embarrassing problem was the construction of the pedestal, which had to be paid for by the Americans themselves.

The statue’s torch was displayed in Madison Square park for six years – from 1876 until 1882 – in an attempt to spark interest and attract funds. But it was only after publisher Joseph Pulitzer published the names of those who donated money for the project that the funds started flowing in. Eventually, the statue was erected 10 years late, in 1886, when it was officially inaugurated by president Grover Cleveland.
The Statue

Aerial viewThe Statue of Liberty is 46,5 meter (151ft) high and together with the pedestal it reaches 93 meter (305ft). You can take the staircase inside the statue and walk all the way up the 354 steps to the crown from where you have a nice view over New York City.

If you want to enter either the pedestal or the monument’s crown it is best to reserve tickets well in advance. For more info on how to get tickets to enter the Statue of Liberty, take a look at this website.

Great Wall

The Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC)
It’s generally believed that the first parts of the Great Wall were built during the Spring and Autumn Period, when the eastern and central region of what is now China consisted of many small states or princedoms.

These states were ruled by the Zhou Dynasty (1045-256 BC) kings operating a feudal system. To protect their states the princes ordered independent walls be built along state borders. These were like the Great Wall in construction, but on a smaller scale.

The Warring States Period (475-221 BC)
As rival states fought for territory and power, the influence of the Zhou kings waned. The small states were joined together by warlords by the beginning of the Warring States Period to form seven large states (Chu, Qi, Wei, Yan, Zhao, Qin and Han). Each state had its own defensive walls, like several short Great Walls. See map below. Click on the state names to read their history.

The Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC)
The outcome of the Warring States Period was that the State of Qin proved to be the stronger, conquering and unifying the other states. Qin Shihuang (king of the State of Qin from 247-221 BC) became the first emperor of China and ruled China for most of the short Qin Dynasty.

Emperor Qin Shihuang ordered that the northern sections of wall on state borders, especially the walls in the northern part of China built by the states of Qin, Zhao and Yan, be joined together to form a unified line of defense against Mongol harassment from the north, the first Great Wall. Other state border walls became obsolete in a unified China and were subsequently eroded or dismantled.

When it was finished, the total length of wall exceeded 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles), and became known as the 10,000-Li-Long-Wall (one li is 0.5 km). The Qin Great Wall wound its way from Linrao, Gansu Province in the west to the Liaodong Peninsula, Liaoning Province.

The Han Dynasty (206 BC -220 AD)
After Qin Shihuang’s death in 210 BC, the Qin Dynasty failed to maintain its authority and was replaced by the Han Dynasty. It was one of the golden ages of China when the nation was consolidated.

The northern fortifications were strengthened and lengthened, with sections of wall running parallel for hundreds of kilometers and interlinking along the Inner Mongolian border. The Han Dynasty Great Wall from Liaodao in the east to Lop Nur in the west was the longest the Great Wall has ever been at more than 8,000 km (5,000 miles). The total length included many branching walls, natural barriers and trenches.

Other Feudal Dynasties (220-960)
The construction and maintenance of the Great wall continued for nearly all the Chinese feudal dynasties. The smaller and less powerful dynasties of North Wei, North Qi, East Wei and North Zhou all spent a lot on the Great Wall. The Sui Dynasty (581-618) saw extensive rebuilding of the Great Wall, while the following Tang Dynasty (618-907), the culmination of China’s feudal age, didn’t do any work on the Great wall owing to its superior power and advantage over its northern nomad neighbors.

The Song Dynasty (960-1279)
The Song Dynasty, known for its development of China’s economy and trade, had a history of building the Great Wall to prevent invasions of Liao, Western Xia and Jin in the north and northwest. The Jin, or Manchus, hovever did get through the Great Wall and controlled the north of China during the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234). The Jin Great Wall was unable to stop the vast Mongol Empire invading consuming China and beginning the Yuan Dynasty.

The Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)
The Yuan Dynasty was the first dynasty in which the whole of China was controlled by a non-Han people, the Mongols. The Great Wall had done a good job of preserving Han China for 1500 years. Building of the Great Wall, not surprisingly, ceased during the Yuan Dynasty, as China and Mongolia to the north were one.

The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
When the Yuan Dynasty collapsed due to civil unrest the Chinese Han once again took control under the command of rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang, who became the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. China flourished during the Ming Dynasty and its military might swelled. The Great Wall was rebuilt in a 100 year project to prevent further northern invasion.

Post-Ming History (1644-present)
A breach in the Great Wall at Shanhai Pass in 1644 by Manchu forces signaled the end of Han control in China for the last and final Chinese dynasty, the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). It also signaled the end of construction and maintenance of the Great Wall, until the Badaling section was restored by the government of the Peoples’ Republic of China, and opened to the public in 1955 as a tourist attraction. Since then other sections have been restored and opened to the public, for example at Mutianyu and Huangya Pass.