Teufelsberg: Abandoned Cold War Listening Station Built On An Artificial Hill

image credit: lunamtra cc

A remnant of the Cold War, Teufelsberg Listening Station stands deserted, abandoned to the ravages of time and vandals. Dominating Brandenburg Plain, in the northern section of Berlin's Grunewald Forest, the permanent station at Teufelsberg was constructed in 1963. Yet perhaps the most surprising fact is that the hill itself is less than twenty years older than the listening station that sits atop it.

Teufelsberg is an artificial hill with a curious history: It was heaped up after the Second World War from part of the rubble of Berlin, approximately 75,000,000 m3 (98,000,000 cu yd) all over the city, during the following twenty years as the city was cleared and rebuilt.