Stadion am Zoo, Football stadium in Elberfeld, Germany
Stadion am Zoo is a football ground in Elberfeld, a district of Wuppertal in North Rhine-Westphalia. The main stand uses a shield wall design with covered seating, while open terracing wraps around the pitch on the remaining sides.
The ground opened in October 1924 and drew more than 30,000 people to its inauguration. Over the following decades, the facility underwent several renovations to meet modern requirements for competitive matches.
The ground's nickname, "Bergisches Stadion", dates from its 1924 opening, when a concrete velodrome between the cinder track and the stands drew record-setting motor-paced races; Belgian world champion Victor Linart called it "the most beautiful track in Europe". The track was partly dismantled in the 1970s to add spectator seating.
The main stand offers shelter during poor weather, while the terraced sections provide open views across the pitch. Pathways around the ground help with orientation and lead to separate entrances on each side.
The old main stand's shield wall is one of only two surviving in Germany, the other being at Berlin's Olympiastadion. Preserving and restoring it consumed much of the 28 million DM cost when the stand was rebuilt in the early 1990s, and its listed status leaves the new stand draughty and partly wet at the edges in rain.
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