(pictured) Albert Speer’s model of Hitler’s “World Capital Germania” (Welthauptstadt Germania), his plan for a magnificently redesigned Berlin.

This plan called for the organization of the capital around two boulevards, one running North-to-South, and another running East-to-West. The focal point of Hitler’s new “world capital” would have been the Volkshalle (“People’s Hall”), a building of the Führer’s own design; pictured above, the huge domed structure was heavily inspired by the palaces and temples of Ancient Rome, especially the Pantheon. Had it been built, this “Hall of Glory” may have reached over 900 feet in height and 800 feet in width, far outstripping the structures that inspired its design. 

 One of the first projects of “Germania” would have been an enormous stadium capable of holding 400,000 spectators. Although a stadium was eventually built by the Nazi government in Berlin, its capacity was less than 1/5th that of the planned original. A triumphal arc, twice as high as the Arc de Triomphe of Paris, was also planned, but also never built.

Alas, much of Hitler’s new Berlin, which he claimed would “only be comparable with Ancient Egypt, Babylon, and Rome” was never built - construction was halted, some of it even undone - by World War II.

(Images from the Bundesarchiv)