Olympiastadion Berlin

The Nazis built this monumental stone stadium for the 1936 Berlin Olympics, intending the Games as a global showcase of the Third Reich and of supposed 'Aryan' superiority, filmed by Leni Riefenstahl in her epic 'Olympia'. Instead the star was the African American sprinter Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals in the 100m, 200m, long jump and relay before 100,000 spectators, publicly demolishing the regime's racial ideology. Hitler reportedly declined to shake his hand. The stadium survived the war largely intact and later served the British occupation forces. Modernised for the 2006 World Cup final, it remains home to the Hertha BSC football club and still bears the austere fascist architecture of its origins.