D-Day nears for the ‘Mother of all airports’

It sits, magnificently or monstrously, depending on your point of view, in the middle of Berlin. Built between 1936 and 1941, the Tempelhof Airport terminal became Hitler's gateway into the Third Reich - first port-of-call for anyone flying to the Fuhrer's fantasy capital, 'Germania'.

Built in limestone and designed by the architect Ernst Sagebiel, it was the largest building in all of Europe. A cavernous passenger hall is attached to a 4,000ft crescent- shaped string of bays where planes taxi in. From the air, it is shaped like a giant coat-hanger.

As the British architect Norman Foster puts it - and he has a special interest in the city after designing the new cupola atop the Reichstag - it was the "mother of all airports".

The airport is still used today for short-haul European and domestic flights. Spacious and airy,

the passenger hall is curiously - uncomfortably, given the historical associations - pleasant to be in.

But in October this year, a new use must be found for the terminal building because Tempelhof Airport is to close. Or will it?

City Mayor Klaus Wowereit secured a court ruling last October to ensure Tempelhof's closure. It loses €10m a year and, he claims, it's bad for the environment.

In 2011, two other Berlin airports will merge as Berlin-Brandenburg International, located in the city's south-east. Berlin's relatively low volume of flights - 25m passengers a year compared to 140m in London - could never, Wowereit claims, justify a second airport.

But a remarkable grass-roots campaign challenging the mayor's position has been gathering steam. The Society for the Protection of City Airport Tempelhof (ICAT in