About this place
The Zeppelin Field takes its name from Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, whose airship LZ6 landed here on the shore of the Dutzendteich lake in 1909. Under the Nazis the former sports ground was transformed into a monumental parade arena measuring 312 by 285 metres, able to hold up to 200,000 people. Along its northern edge stretches the Zeppelin Grandstand, one of Albert Speer's earliest works for the party, faced in pale shell limestone and modelled on the ancient Pergamon Altar. It was here, at the choreographed rallies of the 1930s, that ranks of uniformed men stood in rigid formation while searchlights turned the night sky into Speer's famous Cathedral of Light. The films Leni Riefenstahl shot on this ground carried the spectacle around the world as propaganda. Today the field is quiet, its grass worn and its stone weathered, and the city preserves it not as a monument but as evidence, a place to confront rather than admire.
Key facts
- 360 meters — The width of the main grandstand, modelled by Albert Speer on the ancient Pergamon Altar
- 200000 people — The capacity of the field, larger than twelve football pitches combined
- 1945 year — The US Army blew up the giant stone swastika crowning the grandstand on 22 April
📍 Alfred-Hensel-Weg, 90471, Nürnberg