Munich: view northwards from "Old Peter"

The view is from the tower of St Peter's Church - "Alter Peter" / Old Peter - in central Munich. The tall neo-Gothic building is the New Town Hall (late 19th century). The view from the café on the top floor of my favourite bookshop, Hugendubel, immediately opposite the New Town Hall, is better still.

In 1967 the tall tower on the left of the horizon had recently been completed. It was then known as the "Fernsehturm" or Television Tower. It was sited in the middle of a "Schuttberg", a complex of small hills formed by the debris of destroyed buildings evacuated from the town at the end of World War II. (Many large German towns have a Schuttberg, Munich has three; Berlin has eight, the largest of which is 55 metres in height.)

A Schuttberg is land to be landscaped and made useful. This area of Munich was designated as the site for the 1972 Olympic games, perhaps because the Television Tower was already nearing completion when in 1966 the Games were allotted to Munich. In 1967 this landscaping had not yet begun; if you look at the enlarged photo you will see the outlines of the hills silhouetted on the horizon, in front of and beside the tower.

The tower is now officially known as the Olympic Tower. If you research it on the internet you will find that it was opened to the public early in 1968. Not so: in early 1967 I was a member of the public and ate in its revolving restaurant. Should have thought to take my camera!


PHOTOGRAPHIC INFO:
Camera: Minolta M1 (35mm film)
Film: Kodak's High Speed Ektachrome, film speed 160ASA/ISO.
1/60th sec, f/16

[This blip added in April 2014]