Wilhelmplatz is a former square in the Mitte

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...

 district 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...

 at the corner of Wilhelmstrasse and Voßstraße. The square also gave its name to a 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...

 station which has since been renamed Mohrenstraße

Mohrenstraße (Berlin U-Bahn)

Mohrenstraße is an underground railway station in the German capital city of Berlin. It is part of the Berlin U-Bahn and is located on the line in the district of Mitte.-Overview:...

. A number of notable buildings were constructed around the square, including the old Reich Chancellery

Reich Chancellery

The Reich Chancellery was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany in the period of the German Reich from 1871 to 1945...

 (former Palais Schulenburg), the building of the Ministry of Finance and the Kaiserhof grand hotel built in 1875.

The square was originally laid out from 1721 in the course of the Friedrichstadt

Friedrichstadt (Berlin)

Friedrichstadt was an independent suburb of Berlin, and is now a historical neighborhood of the city itself. The neighborhood is named after the Prussian king Frederick I.-Geography:...

 extension and obtained the name Wilhelmplatz in 1749, after King Frederick William I of Prussia

Frederick William I of Prussia

Frederick William I of the House of Hohenzollern, was the King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death...

. The first building erected was the Ordenspalais

Ordenspalais

The Ordenspalais was a building on the northern corner of Wilhelmplatz with Wilhelmstraße in Berlin ....

 from 1737, situated at the northern side, serving as the seat of the Order of Saint John (Johanniterorden). Across the Wilhelmstraße on the western side the Palais Schulenburg was built in 1739. After the end of the Seven Years' War

Seven Years' War

The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...

 the square from 1769 was furnished with marble statues of the commanders Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin

Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin

Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin was a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall, one of the leading commanders under Frederick the Great.-Biography:...

, Hans Karl von Winterfeldt

Hans Karl von Winterfeldt

Hans Karl von Winterfeldt , Prussian general, was born at Vanselow Castle in Swedish Pomerania, he was Lord of several estates. His education was imperfect, and in later life he always regretted his want of familiarity with the French language...

, Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz

Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz

Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Seydlitz was a Prussian soldier and one of the greatest German cavalry generals.-Early life:...

 (by Jean-Pierre-Antoine Tassaert

Jean-Pierre-Antoine Tassaert

Jean-Pierre-Antoine Tassaert was a minor sculptor of Flemish extraction, who worked in the manner of Falconnet. He went to Paris as a young man to work in the atelier of Michel-Ange Slodtz, a member of a dynasty of designer-sculptors working for the royal account. After Slodtz's death in 1764, he...

, 1781), James Francis Edward Keith and Hans Joachim von Zieten

Hans Joachim von Zieten

Hans Joachim von Zieten , also known as Zieten aus dem Busch, was a cavalry general in the Prussian Army...

 (by Johann Gottfried Schadow

Johann Gottfried Schadow

Johann Gottfried Schadow was a German sculptor.-Biography:Schadow was born in Berlin, where his father was a poor tailor....

). In 1857 the statues were replaced with bronze copies made by August Kiss

August Kiss

August Karl Eduard Kiss was a German sculptor.Kiss studied at the Berlin Academy under Christian Rauch, Tieck and Schinkel...

, the originals can be seen at the Bode Museum

Bode Museum

The Bode Museum is one of the group of museums on the Museum Island in Berlin, Germany; it is a historically preserved building. The museum was designed by architect Ernst von Ihne and completed in 1904...

.

In 1796 Prince Antoni Radziwiłł had acquired the Palais Schulenburg, it was seized by troops of the French Empire

First French Empire

The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...

 in 1806 and temporarily served as the seat of Napoleon

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...

's townmajor. Radziwiłł held a famous salon

Salon (gathering)

A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine taste and increase their knowledge of the participants through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to...

 here and, as a passionate admirer of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...

, on May 24, 1820 made his home the site of one of the first performances of Faust I. After their wedding in 1811 Achim and Bettina von Arnim

Bettina von Arnim

Bettina von Arnim , born Elisabeth Catharina Ludovica Magdalena Brentano, was a German writer and novelist....

 until 1814 lived at the neighbouring Palais Voss. From 1826 the Wilhelmplatz was redesigned by Karl Friedrich Schinkel

Karl Friedrich Schinkel

Karl Friedrich Schinkel was a Prussian architect, city planner, and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed both neoclassical and neogothic buildings.-Biography:Schinkel was born in Neuruppin, Margraviate of...

, who also added Schadow's statue of Prince Leopold I of Anhalt-Dessau

Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau

Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Dessau. He was also a Generalfeldmarschall in the Prussian army...

, while the Ordenspalais was rebuilt in a 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...

 style 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:...

 as the residence of Prince Charles of Prussia

Prince Charles of Prussia

Prince Frederick Charles Alexander of Prussia born in Charlottenburg, was a younger son of Frederick William III of Prussia and Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz...

.

In 1869 the Kingdom of Prussia

Kingdom of Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...

 purchased Prince Radziwiłł's palais on initiative of Otto von Bismarck

Otto von Bismarck

Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...

. The building was refinanced with the war reparations

War reparations

War reparations are payments intended to cover damage or injury during a war. Generally, the term war reparations refers to money or goods changing hands, rather than such property transfers as the annexation of land.- History :...

 paid by the French Third Republic

French Third Republic

The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...

 after the Franco-Prussian War

Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...

 and inaugurated as the chancellery of the new German Empire

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...

 with the 1878 Berlin Congress.

During the Nazi era, the Ordenspalais became the seat of the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda

Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda

The Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda was Nazi Germany's ministry that enforced Nazi Party ideology in Germany and regulated its culture and society. Founded on March 13, 1933, by Adolf Hitler's new National Socialist government, the Ministry was headed by Dr...

 and Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

 commissioned Albert Speer

Albert Speer

Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...

 to construct the new Reich Chancellery

Reich Chancellery

The Reich Chancellery was the traditional name of the office of the Chancellor of Germany in the period of the German Reich from 1871 to 1945...

 across the square. Buildings around the square were all heavily damaged by bombings in 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...

 and were destroyed. On 18 August 1950 Wilhelmplatz was renamed by 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...

 authorities as Thälmannplatz, for Ernst Thälmann

Ernst Thälmann

Ernst Thälmann was the leader of the Communist Party of Germany during much of the Weimar Republic. He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1933 and held in solitary confinement for eleven years, before being shot in Buchenwald on Adolf Hitler's orders in 1944...

. In the 1980s, apartment complexes were built over the square.