München ’72 — the city the 1972 Olympics rebuilt: a walk through the old town with Stattreisen München

On 26 April 1966, shortly after six in the evening, Munich was awarded the XX Olympic Summer Games of 1972. What followed was not only the building of the Olympic park at Oberwiesenfeld, designed by Günter Behnisch with Frei Otto’s tensile roofs: the city’s development plan of 1963, written to run for thirty years, was pushed through in six. The whole country, as this walk puts it, set about making “cheerful, serene Games” real — and about presenting a different Germany to the world, twenty years after the war.

This walk through the old town, offered by Stattreisen München, follows that acceleration in the streets rather than in the stadium: what the Games set in motion beyond sport, and what the 1970s felt like in a city that was rebuilding its image at the same time as its fabric. It is one of the association’s thematic walks, which have been running since 1989 and take the city’s districts, trades and buildings seriously rather than the postcard.

Practical details

• When: Saturday 3 October 2026 at 14:00, among the association’s open walks (the programme changes through the year)
• Meeting point: under the arch of the Karlstor, Munich — U-Bahn, S-Bahn and tram stop Karlsplatz (Stachus)
• Duration: 1.5 to 2 hours
• Admission: adults €17.00, pensioners and students €15.00; private group of up to 25 adults €210.00; school class up to 25 €180.00. The walk can also be given in another language on request (€25 surcharge)
• Tickets: at the meeting point, or in advance through the association’s own ticket page
• Organiser: Stattreisen München e.V., Munich — thematic guided walks in the city since 1989

Dates, prices and the full annual programme are published by Stattreisen; Cultural Heritage Online lists the walk for readers planning a visit to Munich, and the association’s other walks can be added to the same page.

The walk is one of a set with which the association covers the same years from different sides: the Olympic site at Oberwiesenfeld with its tent roofs, the pedestrian zone cut through the old town in the same years, and the S-Bahn trunk line opened for the Games in 1972, which changed how the city moves. Readers who want the buildings rather than the politics will find the Olympic park itself documented in our own pages on Munich.