Teufelsberg Spy Station – Street Art on Devil’s Mountain, Berlin

Teufelsberg, Street Art, berlin

The abandoned spy station of Teufelsberg

Teufelsberg, meaning ‘Devil’s mountain’ in German is an artificial hill in Berlin that curiously lives up to its name.

Teufelsberg rises approximately 80 metres above the surrounding Brandenburg plain in north Berlin’s Grunewald Forest. It was named after Teufelssee, a nearby lake that translates to ‘Devil’s Lake’. 

Teufelsberg was created shortly after World War II, by heaping the remains of the rubble left after the damage of the war. Buried underneath are the remains of a never completed Nazi military-technical college. Allies tried in vain to demolish the school using explosives, but it was so sturdy that covering it with debris turned out to be the easier option.

Since then Teufelsberg has been reconstructed to serve several purposes, including as a Listening Spy Station during the height of the Cold War.

However, after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the station became essentially obsolete. 

After that it was briefly used for domestic air travel control until the site was sold to property developers. However, nothing has really happened since then. Apparently, the famous film director David Lynch tried at one point to buy it, having plans to turn it into a meditation retreat, but those plans never came into fruition. 

I heard about the abandoned Teufelsberg Listening Station after watching an interview with an electronic music artist from Berlin called Pantha Du Prince. He talked about the intense acoustics inside the main dome, and I saw pictures of all the street art. It looked really cool, so I wanted to see it with my own eyes.

After doing some research, I found out that it was relatively easy to reach. So on our first day in Berlin, with blissful weather and a tummy full of currywurst, we set off on an adventure to Teufelsberg.

Teufelsberg, berlin, street art

Reaching Teufelsberg through Grunewald forest

Getting to Teufelsberg was quite an interesting journey. I didn’t know before setting off on the trip, that parts of the forest, lake and beach are frequented by nudists. This only became apparent when we stumbled across it ourselves!

I honestly don’t think I’ve felt so embarrassed being covered up. My friends and I looked so out of place haha!

Anyway, the story of the nudist beach and lake is for another time.

Getting back on track. As we meandered through the beautiful Grunewald forest, the four of us stopped in amazement at the numerous signs warning us of wild boar. We didn’t spot any, which I think was for the best given they can be quite aggressive if caught off guard. 

We also spotted lots of beautiful flora, and brightly coloured blue beetles curiously littered the forest floor.

beetle_berlin

After coming to a clearing in the forest, high up in the distance we could see the dome of one of the stark white, listening towers. 

Teufelsberg, berlin, devils mountain

Arrival at Teufelsberg Listening Station

After arriving at the top of Devil’s Mountain, the Teufelsberg Listening Station finally came into full view.

Beautiful, huge spherical domes that shot into the sky dominated the landscape. Each decorated with graffiti as far as the eyes could see.

We had read online that we’d have to climb through the fencing in order to gain access to the station (it is private property folks, so technically you are breaking the law. I do not condone this type of behaviour *wink wink*).

However when we arrived, we found a few other people searching in vain for an entrance or way through as they had all been expertly sealed off!

Myself and a couple of other smaller girls finally managed to squeeze our way through a small gap in the gate. However my boyfriend and the other guys were too big.

As we all decided that we had come here to experience this place together I didn’t want to leave them, so Elsa and I decided to squeeze back through the small gap in order to find an alternative entrance.

However, soon after a man appeared from the inside and solemnly told us to leave. Teufelsberg is now home to squatters, and apparently, and I say this with a speculative tone, they are hired by the owners of the Listening Station to guard it.

Teufelsberg_berlin_gate

I felt a bit disappointed, but also perplexed because I could see people on the other side of the fence, and wondered how they got there.

We stayed around for a few more moment and saw more people from inside emerged. Then bizarrely, I saw a man sliding down the slope of the entrance swinging his legs about on an office chair like a child without a care in the world. He had in one hand a cigarette, and a can of beer in the other.

Next to him a man came jogging down towards us with with a walkie-talkie in. He announced that we could have a guided tour by one of the inhabitants of the station for 7 € each.

We all decided that this was the only way in so agreed. Although it took away part of the excitement of breaking in alone, we agreed it was the safest opinion.

We were asked to show our identifications, and to write down our e-mail and home addresses (we wrote down fake details). The station is very dangerous in places, with holes in the floors and weak supports and joists. If any of us were to injure ourselves or even worse, DIE, we had signed our disclaimers!

Berlin street art

Street art of David Lynch You’ve got to love this homage to David Lynch!

Berlin, street art, abandoned building Teufelsberg-berlin_street_art Berlin, Graffiti, Teufelsberg Once inside, we were all astounded by how derelict and vandalized the station was. However, an abundance of street art (by some world renowned artists) sprawled across the walls and floors. Inside we saw a community of people, some crowding round a campfire, cooking food and playing guitar, others inside, their worldly belongings consisting of sleeping bags and clothes piled high. We meandered up high into buildings, all decorated with elaborate graffiti and stood inside the listening stations and gazed in awe at the views ahead. The forest below us looked like a carpet of green, with buildings interspersed here and there. Teufelsberg spy station, Berlin Caravan, street art. berlin View of Berlin from Teufelsberg spy station

Teufelsberg spy station, view of Berlin One of the best views of Berlin is from Teufelsberg spy station

At the top of the highest tower, the acoustics in there are otherworldly and alien. Each sound echoes and resonates for what seems like forever. No sound is lost. A whisper sounds like the voice of a ghost, floating effortlessly around the room, a clap sounds like thunder. A man with a guitar began to play and sing and people became silent, hypnotised by the transcendental qualities of its sound. We all knew we were experiencing something incredibly special. Street art inside Teufelsberg, Berlin

Would you like to explore Teufelsberg?

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Hi, I'm Shing

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10 Responses

  1. Great post! I haven’t heard about Nazi military-technical college. Pantha Du Prince documentary was interesting. Thanks for sharing!

    Btw, love your dress!

    1. I have a lot to thank Pantha Du Prince for – to see him perform at the top of the Spy Station would be a dream come true.

      Thanks re: dress – let me know if you want to borrow it 🙂

  2. What an incredible find, Shing! You almost made me nervous there with you trespassing and all 🙂 Some of those street art are amazing. It’s a bit sad to find the squatters there but at least they served a purpose as guards. Love the fun poses!

    1. Hehe, I was a bit nervous too Mary, especially when I was caught red-handed, but I presume they are used to people trying to get in as the squatters or ‘security’ escorted me back out rather nonchalantly.

      I don’t usually advocate trespassing, but with this kind of place there is a whole grey area. Looking back though, I would advise anyone wanting to go here to pay the required entrance fee. It’s worth it just to see the stunning views of Berlin, but the street art steals the show hands down.

  3. Really enjoyed reading this post. We just wrote 2 posts on Berlin’s street-art and food over at Bruised Passports- LOVE that city 🙂

    1. I loved reading your posts over @Bruised Passports (great blog name btw)! Berlin is definitely my kind of city…. such a fun vibe.

  4. dear shing,
    thanks for your article about teufelsberg. i’m sorry that you seem to have had a bad experience with the guards.
    i’m a member of “initiative teufelsberg” which has, since last year, the opportunity to operate the location. we are offering tours all the week around (long ones on the history of the place on weekends, short ones on weekdays). this is the only possible way for the public to see the site. because the site is dangerous (unsafe rails, open elevator shaft, asbestos), the city authorities obliged us to only let people in in groups with guides. the guides have to be paid, that is why it costs. That obligation means as well that we have to keep the fence closed. on the other hand we are keeping the fence closed to keep the vandals outside. it is our aim to save whats left of this unique monument, to tell it’s story and to develop it as a place for the arts. to do so, we have to keep off the vandals, who could destroy the stuff we’ve already built up (what actually already happened). in the end we are hoping to get the allowence to let the public in without guides (and entrance fees).
    the money for these activities is gained mainly with the tours, so our visitors sponsor the saving of the site.
    i’m an historian offering the longer tours on weekends, where all the facts about the place and its history are described, many of which come from my own free-time research.
    we are no opportunists trying to squeeze money out of the place (or tourists)! for more info have a look on the website mentioned.
    sorry again for our guards!
    greetings from the hill,
    martin

    1. Hello Martin, sorry for the late reply! Perhaps my post was a little melodramatic, as I didn’t have a bad time with the guards… I just took their abrupt instructions on the chin, and part of the adventure! 😀

      Thanks for your comment, it helps people like myself and others who are thinking of visiting Teufelsberg understand what the entrance fee contributes to. And I have absolutely no problem paying to enter after learning it contributes to maintaining the place and regulating visitors.

      You explain it perfectly with “our visitors sponsor the saving of the site”.

      Thanks for commenting!

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