Abandoned Theme Park in Berlin Germany May Get New Lease on Life

Ntwadumela · #1 ● 05-12-2014, 05:44 PM

Abandoned in 2001, the grounds of Spreepark amusement park in Berlin, Germany are littered with decaying dinosaurs, crumbling rides and overgrown roller coaster tracks. Since it shut down operations, the park (which opened in 1969 and attracted 1.5 million visitors in its heyday) has attracted urban explorers and tourists, who scale its fence and defy trespass laws to photograph its weather-beaten ruins. In recent years, groups have started organizing group tours of the remains of Spreepark, located next to the river Spree.

But the park (also known as Kulturpark) may be getting a new lease on life. Earlier this year, the city of Berlin purchased the lease for the land the bankrupt amusement park sits on, according to Smithsonian Magazine. Local media report that the city paid 2 millions euros for the 70-acre park, which was once known for its main attractions — a Ferris wheel that towered over 140 feet and featured 36 passenger cars, and the "Eierhäuschen" ("Little Egg House"), a historically listed tourist locale on the grounds.

With its new owners, Spreepark's creepy reputation as an urban explorer's destination may soon be over. "The district wants a small, fine family park," Treptow-Köpenick Mayor Oliver Igel told B.Z. Berlin. "The scrap of the old rides must go."

Indeed, both the senate and the district of Treptow-Köpenickof have announced that they are planning for a "high-quality, eco-friendly culture and leisure park," according to Der Tagesspiegel, with the resurrected Egg House as a main attraction.

If the district has its way, the future Spreepark will be a contrast to its colorful history and checkered past. Originally constructed by the communist government in East Germany, Spreepark fell on hard times when it was taken over by Norbert Witte in 1991, according to Atlas Obscura. Witte later got involved with drug smugglers and he and his son were arrested in 2003 for attempting to smuggle 167 kilos of cocaine from Peru to Germany inside a ride called "The Flying Carpet," reported Spiegel Online. As of 2013, Witte lived in a caravan in Spreepark.