Breitscheidplatz is a major public square in the inner city of Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. Together with the Kurfürstendamm

Kurfürstendamm

The Kurfürstendamm, known locally as the Ku'damm, is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin. The street takes its name from the former Kurfürsten of Brandenburg. This very broad, long boulevard can be considered the Champs-Élysées of Berlin — full of shops, houses, hotels and restaurants...

 boulevard it marks the centre of former West Berlin

West Berlin

West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...

.

Geography

Breitscheidplatz lies within the Charlottenburg

Charlottenburg

Charlottenburg is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, named after Queen consort Sophia Charlotte...

 district near the southwestern tip of the Tiergarten

Tiergarten

Tiergarten is a locality within the borough of Mitte, in central Berlin . Notable for the great and homonymous urban park, before German reunification, it was a part of West Berlin...

 park and the Zoological Garden at the corner of Kurfürstendamm and its eastern continuation Tauentzienstraße

Tauentzienstraße

Tauentzienstraße is a major shopping street in the western part of Berlin, Germany. It is approximately 500 metres long and lies between two important squares, Wittenbergplatz and Breitscheidplatz...

 leading to Schöneberg

Schöneberg

Schöneberg is a locality of Berlin, Germany. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it was a separate borough including the locality of Friedenau. Together with the former borough of Tempelhof it is now part of the new borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg....

 and the Kaufhaus des Westens

Kaufhaus des Westens

The Kaufhaus des Westens is a department store in Berlin. With over 60,000 square metres of selling space and more than 380,000 articles available, it is the second largest department store in Europe; trumped only by Harrods in London...

 on Wittenbergplatz

Wittenbergplatz

Wittenbergplatz is a square in the western part of Berlin, Germany, within the district of Schöneberg near the border with Charlottenburg.It was laid out between 1889 and 1892 and named after the storming of the town of Wittenberg on 14 February 1814 by Prussian troops under General Bogislav...

. The Europa-Center

Europa-Center

The Europa-Center is a building complex on the Breitscheidplatz in Berlin, notable for its high-rise tower. During the 1960s it became one of the iconic sights of West Berlin, along with the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church...

 mall and highrise closes off the Breitscheidplatz to the east. At its centre is the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

The Protestant Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is located in Berlin on the Kurfürstendamm in the centre of the Breitscheidplatz. The original church on the site was built in the 1890s. It was badly damaged in a bombing raid in 1943...

 with its damaged spire.

Early history

Breitscheidplatz was laid out until 1889 at the former Kurfürstendamm bridle path of 1542 which led Elector

Prince-elector

The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...

 (Kurfürst) Joachim II Hector of Brandenburg

Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg

Joachim II Hector was a Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg . A member of the House of Hohenzollern, Joachim II was the son of Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg, and his wife Elizabeth of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden...

 to his hunting grounds in the Grunewald

Grunewald

Grunewald is a locality within the Berliner borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Famous for the homonymous forest, until 2001 administrative reform it was part of the former district of Wilmersdorf.-Geography:The locality is situated in the western side of the city and is separated from...

 forest. The square was originally called Gutenbergplatz after Johannes Gutenberg, the designer of the printing press, it was renamed in 1892 to Auguste-Viktoria-Platz in honor of the German Empress Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein

Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein

Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein was the last German Empress and Queen of Prussia. Her full German name was Auguste Victoria Friederike Luise Feodora Jenny von Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg.She was the eldest daughter of Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess...

.

Shortly after the grounds of the square were laid, Auguste-Viktoria's spouse Emperor Wilhelm II determined it as the site for the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche in honour of his grandfather, Emperor Wilhelm I. The church designed by royal architect Franz Schwechten was a prime example of Romanesque Revival architecture

Romanesque Revival architecture

Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...

, it was consecrated in 1895. Until World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, the square experienced further development in the shape of several fringe buildings in a similar Neo-Romanesque style with exhibition halls, cinemas, shopping and cultural centres.

Twentieth century

After World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 Breitscheidplatz became a meeting place for bohèmiens and intellectuals in Berlin, specifically at the Romanisches Café

Romanisches Café

The Romanisches Café was a café-bar in Berlin well known as a meeting place for artists. It was located on the Kurfürstendamm in the Charlottenburg district...

 located in a Neo-Romanesque building constructed in 1899 - where writers, artists and musicians congregated and exchanged ideas. The house was at the square's eastern side on Budapester Straße 53 - now site of the Europa-Center mall. The Ufa-Palast am Zoo opened on the northwestern corner, then the Germany's largest cinema, followed in 1926 by the Gloria-Palast vis-á-vis on the western side, where The Blue Angel premièred on 1 April 1930.

In 1943, the platz was heavily bombed and most of the area was destroyed. After World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 the square experienced massive reconstruction when it became the quasi symbolic centre of West Berlin compensational for the historic centre around Alexanderplatz

Alexanderplatz

Alexanderplatz is a large public square and transport hub in the central Mitte district of Berlin, near the Fernsehturm. Berliners often call it simply Alex, referring to a larger neighborhood stretching from Mollstraße in the northeast to Spandauer Straße and the City Hall in the southwest.-Early...

 and Unter den Linden

Unter den Linden

Unter den Linden is a boulevard in the Mitte district of Berlin, the capital of Germany. It is named for its linden trees that line the grassed pedestrian mall between two carriageways....

 in Mitte

Mitte (locality)

Mitte is a central locality of Berlin in the homonymous district of Mitte. Until 2001 it was itself an autonomous district....

, then part of East Berlin

East Berlin

East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a part strongly associated with West Germany but a free city...

. In 1947 the square took on the new name 'Breitscheidplatz' in 1947 after Rudolf Breitscheid

Rudolf Breitscheid

Rudolf Breitscheid, was a leading member of the Social Democratic Party and a delegate to the Reichstag during the era of the Weimar Republic in Germany....

, a German social-democrat who was killed at the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944.

The Gedächtniskirche (informally known as "Hollow Tooth" by Berliners) was in shambles after the war. In the 1950s and 1960s it became an unofficial trend in Berlin to tear down buildings damaged in the war and to build new. The renowned West German architect Egon Eiermann

Egon Eiermann

Egon Eiermann was one of Germany's most prominent architects in the second half of the 20th century....

 originally planned to completely demolish the ruins causing numerous public protests. He then commissioned a new functioning parish church, which was to stand next to the old spire preserved as a memorial. The new Gedächtniskirche was consecrated in 1961 and soon became the architectural pride of West Berlin and a memorial against war and destruction.

The development of the square included the erection of the Zoo Palast replacing the Ufa-Palast in 1956, the Bikini-Haus on the northern side finished in 1957 (named after its bare "midriff" on second floor) and the Schimmelpfeng-Haus built in 1960 (now partly demolished) at the site of the old Gloria-Palast.

In 1965, the Europa-Center shopping mall was opened by Mayor Willy Brandt

Willy Brandt

Willy Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm , was a German politician, Mayor of West Berlin 1957–1966, Chancellor of West Germany 1969–1974, and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1964–1987....

 at the site of the former Romanisches Café. It included a large cinema complex and an 86 m (282.2 ft) highrise. The Center with its characteristic Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...

 star on top became a main consumer ground and unofficially gave the Breitscheidplatz the reputation of being the commercial hotspot in West Berlin. Today the building still hosts numerous department stores, outside coffee shops and restaurants and is a popular tourist attraction. It has a preserved landmark status.

Plans for the Breitscheidplatz

The Breitscheidplatz, still one of Berlin's most visited places, is known by many as one of the quintessential squares of Berlin. It presents an awkward yet typical Berliner combination of the old and the new, the cultural and commercial.

Future city plans for the Breitscheidplatz (see:http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de) include: Bettering the quality for pedestrians, more public competitions for the future planning of Breitscheidplatz, renovation of the Bikinihaus built and the Europa-Center. The destruction of the Schimmelpfenghaus has begun to build the 118 m (387.1 ft) Zoofenster highrise with offices, restaurants and a Waldorf-Astoria hotel, to create an attractive city-quarter with livable space. Other plans include renovating the bus station on Hardenbergplatz in front of the Bahnhof Zoo and redevelop the Zoo-Palast as a multi-cinema complex. The closing of the automobile tunnel on Budapester Straße in front of the Bikini-Haus has been completed in 2006.

Public transport

Breitscheidplatz can be reached by S-Bahn via Zoologischer Garten

Berlin Zoologischer Garten railway station

Berlin Zoologischer Garten station was the central transport facility in West Berlin during the division of the city, and thereafter for the western central area of Berlin until opening of the new Berlin Central Station on 28 May 2006...

 station (S 5, S 7, S 75, S 9) as well as by U-Bahn

Berlin U-Bahn

The Berlin is a rapid transit railway in Berlin, the capital city of Germany, and is a major part of the public transport system of that city. Opened in 1902, the serves 173 stations spread across ten lines, with a total track length of , about 80% of which is underground...

 via Zoologischer Garten (U 2, U 9) and Kurfürstendamm

Kurfürstendamm (Berlin U-Bahn)

Kurfürstendamm is an underground station, part of the Berlin U-Bahn network in Germany. It is on the and line and opened on August 28, 1961, when the first section of the U9 between Spichernstraße and Leopoldplatz was inaugurated...

 station (U 1, U 9). Busses stop at Breitscheidplatz (lines 100 and 200) and Europa-Center (129, 219).

The nearby Bahnhof Zoo was constructed in 1882 and functioned as the main railway station of West Berlin. Its importance as a major hub diminuished when in preparation of the 2006 FIFA World Cup

2006 FIFA World Cup

The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...

 the new Berlin Hauptbahnhof

Berlin Hauptbahnhof

' , is the main railway station in Berlin, Germany. It began full operation two days after a ceremonial opening on 26 May 2006. It is located on the site of the historic Lehrter Bahnhof, and until it opened as a main line station, it was a stop on the Berlin S-Bahn suburban railway temporarily...

 was completed, with the former Lehrter Bahnhof now being the main train station in Berlin, the German Intercity-Express and InterCity

InterCity

InterCity is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe...

long distance trains no longer stop by default at Zoologischer Garten.

Media

Webcam of the Breitscheidplatz

Google Images of the Breitscheidplatz

of the Europa-Center

Sources

http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de 18.05.2006

Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung (2004) „Nachhaltiges Berlin“. April. Berlin

Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung (2005) „Stadtforum Berlin. December. Berlin