Hitler's gigantic plans for new Berlin on exhibit

By Carolyn Palmer

BERLIN (Reuters Life!) - Adolf Hitler's plans to pack the centre of Berlin with huge squares and gigantic buildings will go on display at a new exhibition opening on Saturday.

"Myth Germania" is the name of the exhibition that features the detailed plans for bombastic architecture by Albert Speer, which Hitler called "Berlin - the capital of the world".

At the heart of the plans for over-dimensional structures was The Great Hall, a massive domed structure capable of holding 180,000 people, that would have been built on the spot where the Reichstag parliament building is located.

"This would have been the biggest domed hall the world had ever seen," said Dietmar Arnold, director of the exhibition, as he pointed to a replica of the massive structure that vaguely resembles St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

The Great Hall was going to be 290 meters high and the capacity of 180,000 would have made it more than twice as large as even the country's largest soccer stadium today.

It shows plans, architectural models and pictures of the planned city, which was designed to be a symbol of the German Reich's power.

The exhibition also includes a model of Hitler's "Triumphbogen" (Arc de Triomphe).

"It would have had a volume 49 times larger than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris," Arnold said while giving Reuters a tour of the new exhibition that runs through the end of 2008.