Tiergarten
Encyclopedia
Tiergarten is a locality within the borough of Mitte
, in central Berlin
(Germany
). Notable for the great and homonymous urban park
, before German reunification
, it was a part of West Berlin
. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, Tiergarten was also the name of a borough, consisting of the current Bezirk of Tiergarten (formerly called Tiergarten-Süd) plus Hansaviertel
and Moabit
. A new system of road and rail tunnels runs under the park towards Berlin's Central Station
in nearby Moabit.
Once a hunting ground of the Electors
of Brandenburg the Großer Tiergarten park of today was designed in the 1830s by landscape architect Peter Joseph Lenné
. In 1894 the Reichstag building by architect Paul Wallot
opened as the seat of the German
parliament. The lawn between the contemporary Haus der Kulturen der Welt
(House of World Cultures) and the Reichstag building was the site of the Krolloper
opera house, built in 1844, which served as parliament house after the Reichstag fire
on 27 February 1933 and was demolished by air raids in 1943.
On 15 January 1919 the socialist Karl Liebknecht
was shot by Freikorps
soldiers within the park near the lake Neuer See. The corpse of Rosa Luxemburg
, murdered on the same day, was found in the nearby Landwehrkanal
on 1 June 1919.
The first Institut für Sexualwissenschaft
(Institute for Sex Research) of Magnus Hirschfeld
was situated at the former In den Zelten street, near the contemporary Haus der Kulturen der Welt, from 1919 until it was closed by the Nazis in 1933.
After 1944 the park was largely deforested, because it served as a source of firewood for the devastated city. In 1945, the Soviet Union
built a war memorial
along the Straße des 17. Juni
, the Tiergarten's main east-west artery, near the Brandenburg Gate.
in the Reichstag building and the new German Chancellery
. The residence of the German President
, Schloss Bellevue
and the Carillon are also located in the Tiergarten park. It contains several notable sculptures including the four-tiered Victory Column
(Siegessäule), the Bismarck Memorial
and several other memorials to prominent Prussian generals, all of which were located in the ceremonial park facing the Reichstag before they were moved to their present location by the Nazis. In addition, the tree-lined pedestrian avenues
emanating from the Victory Column contain several ceremonial sculptures of Prussian aristocrats enacting an 18th century hunt.
The Brandenburg Gate
and the Potsdamer Platz
are situated on the eastern rim of the locality, the former frontier between East
and West Berlin. Nearby is the Kulturforum stretching from the Berliner Philharmonie
, a 1963 concert hall by architect Hans Scharoun
and home of the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra to the Neue Nationalgalerie
built by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
in 1968. In between are the neoclassical
Saint Matthew Church, built in 1845 by Friedrich August Stüler
, the Gemäldegalerie
as well as the new branch of the Berlin State Library
(Staatsbibliothek). A villa that stood in the place of the bus station next to the Berliner Philharmonie at Tiergartenstraße No. 4 was the seat of the Nazi killing of disabled persons (euthanasia
) program Action T4
. A memorial marks the site.
The adjacent area between the park and the Landwehrkanal is home to Emil Fahrenkamp
's 1932 Shell-Haus
, numerous embassies and the Bendlerblock
, where in 1944 Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg
and the conspirators of the July 20 plot
were shot by a firing squad. Today the building serves as second office of the Federal Ministry of Defence
. Nearby are the headquarters of the Christian Democratic Party
, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation
and Friedrich Ebert Foundation
academies as well as the Bauhaus Archive and the high schools Französisches Gymnasium
and Canisius-Kolleg
. The adjacent western area at the border to Charlottenburg
houses the Berlin Zoo.
At the Victory Column and the Straße des 17. Juni the Love parade
from 1996-2003 and 2006 took place as well as the German Live 8
concert on 2 July 2005. Since 1987, the annual Berlin Marathon
starts here.
On 24 July 2008, Barack Obama spoke at the Victory Column in front of a crowd of over 200,000 people.
", simply known as Tiergarten is, with its 210 hectares (518.9 acre), the largest urban park of Berlin.
Mitte
Mitte is the first and most central borough of Berlin. It was created in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform by the merger of the former districts of Mitte proper, Tiergarten and Wedding; the resulting borough retained the name Mitte. It is one of the two boroughs which comprises former West and...
, in central 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...
). Notable for the great and homonymous urban 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...
, before German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
, it was a part of 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...
. Until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, Tiergarten was also the name of a borough, consisting of the current Bezirk of Tiergarten (formerly called Tiergarten-Süd) plus Hansaviertel
Hansaviertel
The Hansaviertel is a small locality between Großer Tiergarten park and the Spree river within the central Mitte borough of Berlin...
and Moabit
Moabit
Moabit is an inner city locality of Berlin. Since Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it belongs to the newly regrouped governmental borough of Mitte. Previously, from 1920 to 2001, it belonged to the borough of Tiergarten. Moabit's borders are defined by three watercourses, the Spree, the...
. A new system of road and rail tunnels runs under the park towards Berlin's Central Station
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...
in nearby Moabit.
Historical notes
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...
of Brandenburg the Großer Tiergarten park of today was designed in the 1830s by landscape architect 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:...
. In 1894 the Reichstag building by architect Paul Wallot
Paul Wallot
Paul Wallot was a German architect of Huguenot descent, best known for designing the Reichstag building in Berlin, erected between 1884 and 1894...
opened as the seat of the German
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
parliament. The lawn between the contemporary Haus der Kulturen der Welt
Haus der Kulturen der Welt
The Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin is Germany's national centre for contemporary non-European art. It presents art exhibitions, theater and dance performances, concerts, author readings, films and academic conferences on non-European Visual Art and culture...
(House of World Cultures) and the Reichstag building was the site of the Krolloper
Krolloper
The Kroll Opera House was an opera building in Berlin, Germany, located in the central Tiergarten district on the western edge of the Königsplatz square , facing the Reichstag building. It was built in 1844 as an entertainment venue for the restaurant owner Joseph Kroll...
opera house, built in 1844, which served as parliament house after the Reichstag fire
Reichstag fire
The Reichstag fire was an arson attack on the Reichstag building in Berlin on 27 February 1933. The event is seen as pivotal in the establishment of Nazi Germany....
on 27 February 1933 and was demolished by air raids in 1943.
On 15 January 1919 the socialist Karl Liebknecht
Karl Liebknecht
was a German socialist and a co-founder with Rosa Luxemburg of the Spartacist League and the Communist Party of Germany. He is best known for his opposition to World War I in the Reichstag and his role in the Spartacist uprising of 1919...
was shot by Freikorps
Freikorps
Freikorps are German volunteer military or paramilitary units. The term was originally applied to voluntary armies formed in German lands from the middle of the 18th century onwards. Between World War I and World War II the term was also used for the paramilitary organizations that arose during...
soldiers within the park near the lake Neuer See. The corpse of Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg was a Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist and activist of Polish Jewish descent who became a naturalized German citizen...
, murdered on the same day, was found in the nearby Landwehrkanal
Landwehrkanal
The Landwehr Canal, or Landwehrkanal in German, is a long canal parallel to the Spree river in Berlin, Germany, built between 1845 and 1850 according to plans by Peter Joseph Lenné...
on 1 June 1919.
The first Institut für Sexualwissenschaft
Institut für Sexualwissenschaft
The Institut für Sexualwissenschaft was an early private sexology research institute in Germany from 1919 to 1933. The name is variously translated as Institute of Sex Research, Institute for Sexology or Institute for the Science of Sexuality...
(Institute for Sex Research) of Magnus Hirschfeld
Magnus Hirschfeld
Magnus Hirschfeld was a German physician and sexologist. An outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, Hirschfeld founded the Scientific Humanitarian Committee, which Dustin Goltz called "the first advocacy for homosexual and transgender rights."-Early life:Hirschfeld was born in Kolberg in a...
was situated at the former In den Zelten street, near the contemporary Haus der Kulturen der Welt, from 1919 until it was closed by the Nazis in 1933.
After 1944 the park was largely deforested, because it served as a source of firewood for the devastated city. In 1945, the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
built a war memorial
Soviet War Memorial (Tiergarten)
The Soviet War Memorial is one of several war memorials in Berlin, capital city of Germany, erected by the Soviet Union to commemorate its war dead, particularly the 80,000 soldiers of the Soviet Armed Forces who died during the Battle of Berlin in April and May 1945.The memorial is located in the...
along the Straße des 17. Juni
Straße des 17. Juni
The Straße des 17. Juni is a street in central Berlin, the capital of Germany. It is the western continuation of the Unter den Linden. It runs east-west through the Tiergarten, a large forest park to the west of the city centre. At the eastern end is the Brandenburg Gate and at the western end is...
, the Tiergarten's main east-west artery, near the Brandenburg Gate.
Tiergarten today
The locality houses many parliamentary and governmental institutions, among others the BundestagBundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
in the Reichstag building and the new German Chancellery
German Chancellery
The German Chancellery is a federal agency serving the executive office of the Chancellor, the head of the German federal government. The chief of the Chancellery holds the rank of either a Secretary of State or a Federal Minister ...
. The residence of the German President
President of Germany
The President of the Federal Republic of Germany is the country's head of state. His official title in German is Bundespräsident . Germany has a parliamentary system of government and so the position of President is largely ceremonial...
, Schloss Bellevue
Schloss Bellevue
Schloss Bellevue is the official residence of the President of Germany since 1994. The palace in the central Tiergarten district of Berlin is situated on the northern edge of the Großer Tiergarten park, on the banks of the Spree river, near the Berlin Victory Column...
and the Carillon are also located in the Tiergarten park. It contains several notable sculptures including the four-tiered Victory Column
Berlin Victory Column
The Victory Column is a monument in Berlin, Germany. Designed by Heinrich Strack after 1864 to commemorate the Prussian victory in the Danish-Prussian War, by the time it was inaugurated on 2 September 1873, Prussia had also defeated Austria in the Austro-Prussian War and France in the...
(Siegessäule), the Bismarck Memorial
Bismarck Memorial
The Bismarck Memorial , located in the Tiergarten in Berlin, is a prominent memorial statue dedicated to Prince Otto von Bismarck, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Prussia and the first Chancellor of the German Empire...
and several other memorials to prominent Prussian generals, all of which were located in the ceremonial park facing the Reichstag before they were moved to their present location by the Nazis. In addition, the tree-lined pedestrian avenues
Avenue (landscape)
__notoc__In landscaping, an avenue or allée is traditionally a straight route with a line of trees or large shrubs running along each, which is used, as its French source venir indicates, to emphasize the "coming to," or arrival at a landscape or architectural feature...
emanating from the Victory Column contain several ceremonial sculptures of Prussian aristocrats enacting an 18th century hunt.
The Brandenburg Gate
Brandenburg Gate
The Brandenburg Gate is a former city gate and one of the most well-known landmarks of Berlin and Germany. It is located west of the city centre at the junction of Unter den Linden and Ebertstraße, immediately west of the Pariser Platz. It is the only remaining gate of a series through which...
and the Potsdamer Platz
Potsdamer Platz
Potsdamer Platz is an important public square and traffic intersection in the centre of Berlin, Germany, lying about one kilometre south of the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag , and close to the southeast corner of the Tiergarten park...
are situated on the eastern rim of the locality, the former frontier between East
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...
and West Berlin. Nearby is the Kulturforum stretching from the Berliner Philharmonie
Berliner Philharmonie
The Berliner Philharmonie is a concert hall in Berlin, Germany. Home to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, the building is acclaimed for both its acoustics and its architecture....
, a 1963 concert hall by architect Hans Scharoun
Hans Scharoun
Bernhard Hans Henry Scharoun was a German architect best known for designing the Berlin Philharmonic concert hall and the in Löbau, Saxony. He was an important exponent of Organic architecture....
and home of the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra to the Neue Nationalgalerie
Neue Nationalgalerie
Neue Nationalgalerie at the Kulturforum is a museum for modern art in Berlin, with its main focus on the early 20th century. It is part of the Nationalgalerie of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin...
built by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a German architect. He is commonly referred to and addressed as Mies, his surname....
in 1968. In between are the neoclassical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
Saint Matthew Church, built in 1845 by Friedrich August Stüler
Friedrich August Stüler
Friedrich August Stüler was an influential Prussian architect and builder. His masterwork is the Neues Museum in Berlin, as well as the dome of the triumphal arch of the main portal of the Berliner Stadtschloss.-Life:...
, the Gemäldegalerie
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
The Gemäldegalerie is an art museum in Berlin, Germany. It holds one of the world's leading collections of European art from the 13th to the 18th centuries. It is located on Kulturforum west of Potsdamer Platz. Its collection includes masterpieces from such artists as Albrecht Dürer, Lucas...
as well as the new branch of the Berlin State Library
Berlin State Library
The Berlin State Library is a library in Berlin, Germany and a property of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.-Buildings:The State Library runs several premises, three of which are open for users, namely House 1 in Unter den Linden 8, House 2 in Potsdamer Straße 33 and the newspaper archive...
(Staatsbibliothek). A villa that stood in the place of the bus station next to the Berliner Philharmonie at Tiergartenstraße No. 4 was the seat of the Nazi killing of disabled persons (euthanasia
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
) program Action T4
Action T4
Action T4 was the name used after World War II for Nazi Germany's eugenics-based "euthanasia" program during which physicians killed thousands of people who were "judged incurably sick, by critical medical examination"...
. A memorial marks the site.
Emil Fahrenkamp
Emil Fahrenkamp was a German architect and professor, one of the most prominent architects of the interwar period, best known for his 1930 Shell-Haus in Berlin....
's 1932 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 :...
, numerous embassies and the Bendlerblock
Bendlerblock
The Bendlerblock is a building in Berlin, located on the Stauffenbergstraße , south of the Tiergarten. The building was erected between 1911 and 1914 for the Imperial German Navy Offices. During the Weimar Republic it served as the seat of the Reichswehr command and the Ministry of Defence...
, where in 1944 Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg
Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg
Claus Philipp Maria Justinian Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg commonly referred to as Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg was a German army officer and Catholic aristocrat who was one of the leading members of the failed 20 July plot of 1944 to assassinate Adolf Hitler and remove the Nazi Party from...
and the conspirators of the July 20 plot
July 20 Plot
On 20 July 1944, an attempt was made to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Führer of the Third Reich, inside his Wolf's Lair field headquarters near Rastenburg, East Prussia. The plot was the culmination of the efforts of several groups in the German Resistance to overthrow the Nazi-led German government...
were shot by a firing squad. Today the building serves as second office of the Federal Ministry of Defence
Federal Ministry of Defence (Germany)
The Federal Ministry of Defence is a top-level federal agency, headed by the Federal Minister of Defence as a member of the Cabinet of Germany...
. Nearby are the headquarters of the Christian Democratic Party
Christian Democratic Union (Germany)
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...
, the Konrad Adenauer Foundation
Konrad Adenauer Foundation
The Konrad Adenauer Foundation is a German political party foundation associated with the centre-right Christian Democratic Union . The foundation's headquarters are located in Saint Augustine and Berlin. Globally, the KAS has 78 offices and runs programs in over 100 countries...
and Friedrich Ebert Foundation
Friedrich Ebert Foundation
The Friedrich Ebert Foundation is a German political foundation associated with the Social Democratic Party of Germany , yet independent of it...
academies as well as the Bauhaus Archive and the high schools Französisches Gymnasium
Französisches Gymnasium Berlin
The Französisches Gymnasium — Collège Français Berlin is a long-existing francophone gymnasium in Berlin, Germany.-History:It was founded in 1689 by Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg for the children of the Huguenot families who had settled in Brandenburg-Prussia by his invitation, being...
and Canisius-Kolleg
Canisius-Kolleg Berlin
The Canisius-Kolleg is a coeducational, private and Catholic Gymnasium in Berlin, Germany directed by the Jesuits. The school is named for Saint Petrus Canisius. It is known as one of Berlin's most prestigious schools.- Environment :...
. The adjacent western area at the border to Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, named after Queen consort Sophia Charlotte...
houses the Berlin Zoo.
At the Victory Column and the Straße des 17. Juni the Love parade
Love Parade
The Love Parade was a popular electronic dance music festival and parade that originated in 1989 in West Berlin, Germany. It was held in Germany annually between 1989 and 2003 in Berlin, and then from 2006 to 2010 in the Ruhr region...
from 1996-2003 and 2006 took place as well as the German Live 8
Live 8
Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 Conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland from 6–8 July 2005; they also coincided with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid...
concert on 2 July 2005. Since 1987, the annual Berlin Marathon
Berlin Marathon
The Berlin Marathon is a major running and sporting event held annually in Berlin, Germany. The official marathon distance of 42.195 kilometers is set up as a city-wide road race where professional athletes and amateur runners jointly participate...
starts here.
On 24 July 2008, Barack Obama spoke at the Victory Column in front of a crowd of over 200,000 people.
Großer Tiergarten
The park "Großer TiergartenGroßer 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...
", simply known as Tiergarten is, with its 210 hectares (518.9 acre), the largest urban park of Berlin.