Väterchen Timofej - The Munich Hermit

I came across this place several years ago with a German friend. I have been wanting to go back and find out more – and did just that today.

Timofej Wassiljewitsch Prochorow, a Russian fugitive, came to Munich in the early 50’s. He built a house out of the debris from WWII from the then Schuttberg (today – Olympiaberg). He did this without any sort of technical help. He and his wife Natascha carried everything from the hill and built not only the house, but also a small chapel and a church. For the lining of the roof, it is literally covered in tin foil.

The city tried to tear down the buildings when they were building the Olympia Stadium in the late 60’s as he did all the building without any sort of building permit (hence the name Hermit was given to him). But the people of Munich gathered together and protested.

Timofej lived there in the same house he build by his own hands from the debris until 2004, when he died at the age of 110.



The house still stands, but you can not go in it. You can enter the grounds and walk through the chapel and the church. There is also a very small little museum that you can walk through that has pictures of the build and also of the area before it became Olympiapark. It was new to me to find out that it used to be an airfield (Oberwiesenfeld, which was the first Munich airport) and there are pictures of it then (including ones with Zepplins and Hitler).

It is well worth a stroll through, especially if you are already going for a walk in Olympiapark. It is located in the middle of the trees that are in the middle of the grounds where Tollwood and other festivals are held.

And here is a link to some pictures from today's visit TT Gallery

I visited this place a few years ago, during the Tollwood summer festival. The house and chapel and surrounding grounds are in fact located right in the middle of the festival ground, but so well hidden by trees that you'd never guess they were there. I think it's signposted as "Ost-West Friedenskirche". If I remember rightly, Vaeterchen Timofei lived there as a true hermit, completely self-sufficient, with no running water or electricity (or maybe he had his own generator).

I'm not sure if he was a "fugitive" in the usual sense of someone fleeing persecution, though he must certainly have been a bit of an eccentric. I think he allegedly came to Munich because he received a message from God telling him to come here and build a chapel. He was by all accounts quite a character. The current Lord Mayor of Munich, Christian Ude, has a few anecdotes about him in his books of memoirs, "Chefsache" and "Meine verfruehten Memoiren" - both an entertaining read (in German).

I was amazed when I first heard this story. I've been to that part of Olympiapark very often, normally during Tollwood in the Summer, and I had absolutely no idea that there was a house and chapel right in the middle of it all!!!

It was also really interesting to see the pictures in the museum of Timofej building his house - with the bulldozers piling the rubble into what would become Olympiaberg in the background. VERY interesting!!

The same for me: I have bounced into this place years ago and after dozens of visits at the olympia park.
The firs time I have visited the place, Väterchen Timofej was still alive but he moved to a sort of Seniorenhaus (or a private and more comfortable apartment, I don't remember).
However this corner of Munich together with the story of Väterchen Timofej, makes this town a strange (and magical) place.

I lived in Olydorf before moving to Thalkirchen, when I was in Munich. I often went to the Park and had heard of this place, but never got round to actually looking for it! Obviously very well hidden. Have to make a point of going next time I'm over there. I didn't know that he was still alive until 2004. I just missed him then, as I was in Munich from 2005 to 2007.

Seen the guy behind the fence one day there and thought it a bit strange. He had an Alsation that used to run along the fence. I'd heard that the city came to an agreement that when he died they would be retaking the ground, and it could not be bequeathed to any relatives etc.