Landwehrkanal
Encyclopedia
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, is a 10.7 kilometres (6.6 mi) long canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
parallel to the Spree
Spree
The Spree is a river that flows through the Saxony, Brandenburg and Berlin states of Germany, and in the Ústí nad Labem region of the Czech Republic...
river in 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...
, built between 1845 and 1850 according to plans by Peter Joseph Lenné
Peter Joseph Lenné
Peter Joseph Lenné was a Prussian gardener and landscape architect from Bonn who worked in the German classicist style.-Childhood and development:...
. It connects the upper part of the Spree at the Osthafen (Eastern Harbour) in Friedrichshain
Friedrichshain
Friedrichshain is a part of Berlin's borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, and like Kreuzberg across the river it has its own distinct character, with the result that the new double name is hardly ever used outside government administration. From its creation in 1920 until Berlin's 2001...
with its lower part in Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, named after Queen consort Sophia Charlotte...
, flowing through Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg, a part of the combined Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte since 2001, is one of the best-known areas of Berlin...
and 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...
.
Lenné designed a canal with sloped walls, an average width of 20 m (65.6 ft) at the surface and locks
Lock (water transport)
A lock is a device for raising and lowering boats between stretches of water of different levels on river and canal waterways. The distinguishing feature of a lock is a fixed chamber in which the water level can be varied; whereas in a caisson lock, a boat lift, or on a canal inclined plane, it is...
near both ends to control the water depth. In the course of two enlargements 1883-1890 and 1936-1941 it reached a breadth of 22 m (72.2 ft) and a depth of 2 m (6.6 ft). Today the waterway is mainly used by tourist boats and pleasure craft.
The Landwehr Canal leaves the Spree River in the Osthafen (Eastern Harbour) in Friedrichshain
Friedrichshain
Friedrichshain is a part of Berlin's borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, and like Kreuzberg across the river it has its own distinct character, with the result that the new double name is hardly ever used outside government administration. From its creation in 1920 until Berlin's 2001...
, east of the city centre. It immediately descends through the Schleusenufer (Upper Lock) and heads in a straight line south west to its junction with the Neukölln Ship Canal
Neukölln Ship Canal
The Neukölln Ship Canal, or Neuköllner Schiffahrtskanal, is a long canal in Berlin, Germany. It connects with the Landwehr Canal at its northern end, and with the Teltow Canal and the Britz Canal at its southern end....
, which provides a connection to the Teltow Canal
Teltow Canal
The Teltow Canal, also known as the Teltowkanal in German, is a canal to the south of Berlin, the capital city of Germany. The canal lies in both the states of Berlin and Brandenburg, and at points forms the boundary between the two...
. Here the Landwehr Canal turns north west through Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg, a part of the combined Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte since 2001, is one of the best-known areas of Berlin...
.
In Kreuzberg the canal passes the entrance to the former Luisenstadt Canal
Luisenstadt Canal
The Luisenstadt Canal, or Luisenstädtischer Kanal, is a long former canal in Berlin, Germany. It is named after the Luisenstadt district and ran through today's districts of Kreuzberg and Mitte, linking the Landwehr Canal with the Spree River, and serving a central canal basin known as the...
that, between 1852 and 1926, provided a further connection to the Spree River. Although this has since been filled and partially converted to a public garden, its route can still be traced by the parallel flanking streets with their distinctive damm suffixes.
Further west in Kreuzberg, the canal is paralleled for about 1 kilometre (0.621372736649807 mi) by the U1
U1 (Berlin U-Bahn)
U1 is a line on the Berlin U-Bahn, which is 8.8 km long and has 13 stations. Its traditional line designation was BII. It runs east-west and its eastern end is immediately south of the route of the historical Schlesischen Bahn at the Warschauer Straße S-Bahn station and runs through...
line of the Berlin 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...
, which runs here as an elevated railway
Elevated railway
An elevated railway is a form of rapid transit railway with the tracks built above street level on some form of viaduct or other steel or concrete structure. The railway concerned may be constructed according to the standard gauge, narrow gauge, light rail, monorail or suspension railway system...
. After passing the elevated Möckernbrücke
Möckernbrücke (Berlin U-Bahn)
Möckernbrücke is a station of the Berlin U-Bahn network in the western Kreuzberg district, named after a nearby bridge crossing the Landwehrkanal...
and Hallesches Tor
Hallesches Tor (Berlin U-Bahn)
The underground station Hallesches Tor is part of the Berlin U-Bahn network at the intersection of the east-west bound U1 and the north-south bound U6 in the Kreuzberg district.-Overview:...
stations, the U1 crosses the canal on a high level bridge that also spans the railway bridge that once gave access to the, now demolished, Anhalter Bahnhof
Anhalter Bahnhof
The Anhalter Bahnhof is a former railway terminus in Berlin, Germany, approximately 600 metres southeast of Potsdamer Platz. Although the station was closed in 1952, the name lives on in the Berlin S-Bahn station of the same name.- Early days :...
. Shortly after that, the elevated U2
U2 (Berlin U-Bahn)
U2 is a line on the Berlin U-Bahn. The U2 line starts at the Pankow urban rail station, runs through the eastern city centre to Potsdamer Platz, the western city centre and finally to the Ruhleben terminal station.The U2 has 29 stations and a length of...
line crosses the canal.
After entering 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...
, the canal flows between the Großer Tiergarten Park
Großer Tiergarten
The Großer Tiergarten, simply known as Tiergarten, is an urban public park of Germany located in the middle of Berlin, completely in the homonymous locality...
and the Berlin Zoological Garden. Here the canal passes through the Unterschleuse (Lower Lock) and is bridged by the Berlin Stadtbahn. This historic elevated railway carries S-Bahn
Berlin S-Bahn
The Berlin S-Bahn is a rapid transit system in and around Berlin, the capital city of Germany. It consists of 15 lines and is integrated with the mostly underground U-Bahn to form the backbone of Berlin's rapid transport system...
, Regional-Express and InterCity
InterCity
InterCity is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe...
trains. The Landwehr Canal rejoins the Spree River in Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, named after Queen consort Sophia Charlotte...
, immediately opposite the entrance to the Charlottenburg Canal
Charlottenburg Canal
The Charlottenburg Canal, or Charlottenburger Verbindungskanal in German, is a canal in Berlin, Germany.With a former length of , the canal was built between 1848 and 1859, and originally connected the River Spree, in Charlottenburg, with the Berlin-Spandau Ship Canal...
at a waterways crossroad known as Spreekreuz.
After Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg was a Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist and activist of Polish Jewish descent who became a naturalized German citizen...
was murdered on January 15, 1919, her body was dumped into the Landwehr Canal, where it was not found until June 1. A memorial marks the site. In 1920 Anna "Anastasia" Anderson
Anna Anderson
Anna Anderson was the best known of several impostors who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia...
attempted suicide by jumping into the water. In 1932 initial construction of the Shell-Haus
Shell-Haus
Shell-Haus is a classical modernist architectural masterwork that stands overlooking the Landwehrkanal in the Tiergarten district of Berlin.- Building and design :...
overlooking the canal was completed.
External links
- Bilder vom Berliner Landwehrkanal (German) - images of the Landwehrkanal