The former, abandoned Berlin-Tempelhof Airport

by Silva Wischeropp

This photograph of Berlin’s architecture was taken with my NIKON D90 camera (lens: NIKKOR 18–50 mm f/2.8) on 12 October 2021 in the late afternoon.

Once planned as Europe’s largest aviation hub, the disused Tempelhof Airport in southern Berlin, with its monumental buildings and open tarmac, is now finding a new purpose. Berliners love the open space, which has been transformed into a park.
Once planned as Europe’s largest aviation hub, Tempelhof Airport is now quietly finding a new purpose. For here, only birds, pollen and kites take to the skies:
The historic Berlin Tempelhof Airport closed as an airport in 2008. The outdoor grounds have been transformed into an inner-city park, whilst the listed airport building is used for major events and trade fairs. It is no exaggeration to say that Tempelhof Airport was once world-famous. Built by the Nazis on a monumental scale between 1936 and 1941, the inner-city airport saved the lives of Berliners just a few years later. Germany had lost the Second World War, and the victorious powers divided Berlin into various occupation zones. From 24 June 1948 to 12 May 1949, the Soviet occupation forces blocked all road and rail links from the western occupation zones to West Berlin. During this Berlin Blockade, the Western Allies supplied the city’s inhabitants by air, with most flights landing at Tempelhof Airport.
With the end of flight operations at Tempelhof, Berlin regained a large open space in the city centre and one of the world’s largest buildings in a central location. Today, one can enjoy lovely walks on the former runway. Tempelhofer Feld has been transformed into an exciting park. The expanse is impressive, the horizon distant, and one can easily understand why the site is now called Tempelhofer Freiheit.