4 The Ballad of Songbirds And Snakes Filming Locations You Can Visit In Germany
The movie was shot in some of Germany's most prominent buildings.
On November 17, the long-awaited Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, was finally released. If you want to dive even deeper into this dystopia, buy a ticket to Germany – most of the locations are there.
1. The Altes Museum, Berlin
In one of the first scenes, as Peter Dinklage's Casca assigns mentors and district representatives, and Snow sees Lucy Gray for the first time on screen, the action takes place in the solemn atmosphere of the Capitol building.
The Capitol building in real life is the Altes Museum in Berlin. It is the oldest museum in the city and houses mostly ancient art. There are actually no statues on the bowl in front of the entrance, they were added using CGI, and the facade was also slightly altered.
2. The Monument to the Battle of the Nations, Leipzig
The scene where each mentor had a conversation with their tribute was filmed in one of the most impressive buildings in Germany – the Monument to the Battle of the Nations.
In October 1813, a historic battle took place in the German city of Leipzig. It ended in the most crushing defeat of the mighty and invincible French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. A monumental, majestic monument was erected here to commemorate the battle.
Inside the monument there is a Hall of Fame with 324 horsemen depicted almost life-size on the ceiling, and four statues that personify bravery, strength of faith, people’s strength, and sacrifice.
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3. The James Simon Gallery, Berlin
The scene where Snow and Clemensia rush to Dr. Volumnia Gaul to discuss their projects was filmed in Berlin on Museum Island.
The snow-white building is the James Simon Gallery. The building was completed just recently, in 2019, and was named after philanthropist James Simon, who donated a total of about 10,000 works of art, historical and archaeological objects to Berlin museums.
4. The Olympic Stadium of Berlin
The lower part of the Hunger Games arena is the Olympic Stadium of Berlin, which has its own interesting cinematic background.
The stadium was built specifically for the 1936 Olympic Games, and its opening ceremony was broadcast live for the first time. In addition, footage shot in the new stadium during the Olympic Games was included in what became a masterpiece of documentary filmmaking – Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia.