1.
Mitte (locality)
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Mitte is a central locality of Berlin in the homonymous district of Mitte. Until 2001 it was itself an autonomous district and it comprises the historic centre of Alt-Berlin around the churches of St. Nicholas and St. For these reasons Mitte is considered the heart of Berlin, the history of Mitte corresponds to the history of the entire city until the early 20th century, and with the Greater Berlin Act in 1920 it became the first district of the city. It was among the areas of the city most heavily damaged in World War II and this ended on 1 January 1961, when western Staaken was incorporated into then East German Falkensee, which had already been under its de facto administration since 1 June 1952. Between 1961 and 1990 Mitte, one of the most important boroughs of East Berlin, one of the most important border crossings was Checkpoint Charlie, near Kreuzberg. Situated in central Berlin and mostly in its old town, it is traversed by the river Spree and it borders the localities of Tiergarten, Moabit, Wedding, Gesundbrunnen, Prenzlauer Berg, Friedrichshain, and Kreuzberg
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Museum Island
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Museum Island is the name of the northern half of an island in the Spree river in the central Mitte district of Berlin, Germany, the site of the old city of Cölln. The Neues Museum finished in 1859 according to plans by Friedrich August Stüler, destroyed in World War II, it was rebuilt under the direction of David Chipperfield for the Egyptian Museum of Berlin and re-opened in 2009. It exhibits the sculpture collections and late Antique and Byzantine art, the Pergamon Museum, the final museum of the complex, constructed in 1930. It contains multiple reconstructed immense and historically significant buildings such as the Pergamon Altar, in 1999, the museum complex was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. A first exhibition hall was erected in 1797 at the suggestion of the archaeologist Aloys Hirt, in 1822, Schinkel designed the plans for the Altes Museum to house the royal Antikensammlung, the arrangement of the collection was overseen by Wilhelm von Humboldt. The island, originally an area, was dedicated to art. Further extended under succeeding Prussian kings, the collections of art. They are today maintained by the Berlin State Museums branch of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Museum Island further comprises the Lustgarten park and the Berlin Cathedral. Between the Bode and Pergamon Museums it is crossed by the Stadtbahn railway viaduct, the adjacent territory to the south is the site of the former Stadtschloss and the Palace of the Republic. These include the Priams Treasure, also called the gold of Troy, excavated by Heinrich Schliemann in 1873, then smuggled out of Turkey to Berlin and today kept at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. Then, six months later, Peter-Klaus Schuster took over and set in motion a far more ambitious program intended to turn Museum Island into a Louvre on the Spree. The federal government pledged $20 million a year through 2010 for projects to enhance Berlins prestige and Unesco declaring the island a World Heritage Site. The contents of the museums were decided on as follows, The Pergamon, with the Greek altar that gives it its name, the Neues Museum presented archaeological objects as well as Egyptian and Etruscan sculptures, including the renowned bust of Queen Nefertiti. The Altes Museum, the oldest on the island, displayed Greek and Roman art objects on its first floor, the Bode Museums paintings went from Late Byzantine to 1800. And, as now, the Alte Nationalgalerie will cover the 19th century, the James Simon Gallery, a $94 million visitors’ center designed by the British architect David Chipperfield, is being built beside the Neues Museum. It will in turn be linked to the Neues, Altes, Pergamon, once the Museum Island Master Plan is completed, the so-called Archaeological Promenade will connect four of the five museums in the Museum Island. The Promenade will begin at the Old Museum in the south, lead through the New Museum, before World War II, these museums were connected by bridge passages above ground, they were destroyed due to the effects of the war. There have never been plans to them, instead, the central courts of individual museums will be lowered
3.
Fischerinsel
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Fischerinsel is the southern part of the island in the River Spree which was formerly the location of the city of Cölln and is now part of central Berlin. The northern part of the island is known as Museum Island, Fischerinsel is normally said to extend south from Gertraudenstraße and is named for a fishermens settlement which formerly occupied the southern end of the island. The original settlement of fishermen and other boatmen and their families was part of Cölln from 1237 on, in 1709, Cölln united with Berlin, whose old centre lay on the east bank of the river. In the 18th century, boating professions became less important as the city industrialised, as a result, in the early 19th century, the Fischerinsel district stopped developing and became a neighbourhood which preserved the look of old Berlin, including the last gabled houses in the city. In the 20th century it became a tourist attraction, the neighbourhood and its high street, Fischerstraße, remained comparatively untouched after World War II. Like the rest of the borough of Mitte, it fell into the Soviet Zone which became East Berlin, in 1954, a plan was drawn up for the neighbourhood which emphasised conservation of the surviving buildings. Later plans envisaged replacement with low density housing and a development of tower blocks. However, in 1960 an overall plan was adopted for central Berlin which required demolition of all the buildings in the Fischerinsel area and this was done beginning in 1964, including 30 registered landmarks, and the ancient street plan was effaced. The painter Otto Nagel, in the last years of his life, documented it in a series of pastels entitled Abschied vom Fischerkiez, after calling in vain for its preservation in 1955. In 2000 the Ahornblatt was demolished, to be replaced by a multi-use centre including a hotel, flats and offices, as a result of the redevelopment of the site, the old locations of Roßstraße, Petristraße, Grünstraße and Gertraudenstraße can be seen in places. The last of five churches on the site, the second church in the city, was designed by Heinrich Strack. It had a spire 111 metres high which was for some time the tallest building in Berlin, in its place will be built the House Of One - the worlds first house of prayer for three religions. The last Cölln Town Hall faced the Köllnischer Fischmarkt and it was designed by the court architect, Martin Grünberg, and built in 1710–23 in baroque style, but as a cost-cutting measure, the tower and entrance stairs were not built. It was popular with tourists and had been frequented and depicted by Heinrich Zille, destroyed in 1943, it was recreated in 1987 in the Nikolaiviertel as part of the East German creation of a tourist old town there. The Großgaststätte Ahornblatt, designed by Gerhard Lehmann, Ulrich Müther, Rüdiger Plaethe and it was registered as a city landmark in 1995 for its modern East German architecture, but was nonetheless demolished in 2000. Hans Kohlhase, on whom Heinrich von Kleists novella Michael Kohlhaas is based, markus Wolf, chief of foreign intelligence for the Stasi, lived in one of the tower blocks in the 1970s. Zur politischen Geschichte der Denkmalpflege in Deutschland, Fischerinsel and its surroundings on a 1932 Berlin map Geschichte von Fischerinsel, listing of former street names, Kauperts Straßenführer durch Berlin
4.
Friedrichstadt (Berlin)
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Friedrichstadt was an independent suburb of Berlin, and is now a historical neighbourhood of the city itself. The neighbourhood is named after the Prussian king Frederick I, Friedrichstadt is located south of the Dorotheenstadt neighbourhood, and southwest of the historical suburb of Friedrichswerder. It is located south of the twin-city zone of Berlin and Cölln, today, the northern part of the neighbourhood is located in the borough of Berlin-Mitte, while the southern part of the neighbourhood is located in borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. The border between the two boroughs runs along the side of Niederkirchnerstraße and Zimmerstraße. A large portion of the Spittelmarkt and adjoining Hausvogteiplatz were once part of a military installation associated with the suburb of Friedrichswerder. In order to assist with the layout and the placement of buildings and houses, various architects and engineers, including Johann Nering, Johann Behr. The new city was founded in 1691, Friedrichstadt was the third expansion of the Berlin-Cölln city center, after Dorotheenstadt and Friedrichswerder. Friedrichstadt was built outside of the Berlins fortifications, south of Dorotheenstadt, however, the city was protected both by the militia of Leipzig and a lengthening of the western city wall of Dorotheenstadt. Today, this is the site of Mauerstraße, toward the south, Friedrichstadt originally extended to the present-day Zimmerstraße. From that southern point, the city extended approximately to the fortifications of the city of Neu-Cölln, to enter the city from Friedrichswerder, one entered through the Leipziger Tor, and to enter from Dorotheenstadt, one came through the Friedrichs-Tor. This new area of the city, however, was not referred to as Friedrichstadt until 1706, Friedrichstadt was designed with an unusually austere geometric style for the time, with broad streets which intersected at right angles to each other. Because the ground upon which the new neighbourhood was to be built was boggy and unstable, many houses in the city had to be built on stilts and stakes. As a result of government sponsored building rush,300 houses stood in Friedrichstadt in 1692, many settlers in the city were Huguenots seeking refuge from the French government. Jerusalems Chapel, which used to stand outside of the area before, was included into Friedrichstadts municipal borders. In 1701 the Judge Krause at the neighboured Kammergericht added a chapel for his family to the church building. To accommodate more German and French settlers, ground was broken on the constructions of two churches, the French Church of Friedrichstadt, and the German New Church, in 1701. Construction of new homes continued in the city until 1708, in 1711 at the corner of Jäger and Markgrafen streets a new building for the Societät der Wissenschaften, founded by Gottfried Leibniz, opened. Today the building is occupied by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, with that, the independence of Friedrichstadt ended, as it was incorporated as a part of the new Berlin
5.
Town square
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A town square is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town used for community gatherings. Other names for town square are civic center, city square, urban square, market square, public square, piazza, plaza, most town squares are hardscapes suitable for open markets, music concerts, political rallies, and other events that require firm ground. Being centrally located, town squares are surrounded by small shops such as bakeries, meat markets, cheese stores. At their center is often a fountain, well, monument, many of those with fountains are actually called fountain square. In urban planning, a city square or urban square is an open area in a city. Red Square in Moscow was originally used as a marketplace and later became the stage for Soviet military parades. Similarly, Beijings Tiananmen Square was the scene of both communist parades and anti-government protests, john-F. -Kennedy-Platz was the site of the West Berlin town hall and John F. Kennedys famous Ich bin ein Berliner speech. New York Citys Times Square as well as Bryant Park, Washington, D. C. s National Mall, trafalgar Square in London does the same for the United Kingdom. Saint Peters Square in Vatican City, the enclave within Rome. Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto is a renowned and famous square in Canada, nathan Phillips Square is a popular square in front of Torontos landmark City Hall. Hviezdoslavovo námestie is one of the squares in Bratislava and a centre of a social life. Dam Square in Amsterdam for the Netherlands, Main Market Square in Kraków, Market Place in Warsaw and Wrocław Main Square for Poland. The City Hall Square, Copenhagen for Denmark, praça do Comércio, in Lisbon, Portugal, was formerly known as the Terreiro do Paço. It was destroyed after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake but was rebuilt, the symmetrical buildings around the square hold government bureaus and ministries. Wenceslas Square is one of the city squares in the New Town of Prague. In Mainland China, Peoples Square is a designation for the central town square of modern Chinese cities. These squares are the site of government buildings, museums and other public buildings, the probably best-known and largest such square in China is Tienanmen Square. The German word for square is Platz, which also means Place and these have been focal points of public life in towns and cities from the Middle Ages to today
6.
Fernsehturm Berlin
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The Fernsehturm is a television tower in central Berlin, Germany. Close to Alexanderplatz in Berlin-Mitte, the tower was constructed between 1965 and 1969 by the government of the German Democratic Republic and it was intended as both a symbol of communist power and of Berlin. It remains the latter today, as it is visible throughout the central. With its height of 368 metres it is the tallest structure in Germany, of three tallest structures in Europe, it is 0. 5m shorter than the Riga Radio and TV Tower, and 8m taller than the Trbovlje Power Station in 2017. The tower has one of the most prominent symbols of the country and is often in the establishing shot of films set in Berlin. Due to its location near Alexanderplatz, it is occasionally called Alex Tower, the original total height of the tower was 365 metres, but it rose to 368 metres after the installation of a new antenna in 1997. The Fernsehturm is the fourth tallest freestanding structure in Europe, after Moscows Ostankino Tower, the Kiev TV Tower, the sphere is a visitor platform and a revolving restaurant in the middle of the sphere. The visitor platform, also called panoramic floor, is at a height of about 203 metres above the ground, the restaurant Telecafé, which rotates once every 30 minutes, is a few metres above the visitors platform at 207 metres. When first constructed, it turned once per hour, the speed was doubled following the towers 1997 renovation. Inside the shaft, two lifts shuttle visitors to the sphere of the tower within 40 seconds, a Stairway with 986 steps also provides access, however it is not accessible by wheelchair. The TV tower had several architects and its former design was done by Hermann Henselmann, and Jörg Streitparth. It was built by the East German architects Fritz Dieter, Günter Franke, Walter Herzog, Gerhard Kosel and Herbert Aust later also took part in the planning. The Tower was deliberately constructed in the center of the medieval center of Berlin. A medieval church stands next to the tower as a testament to the destruction of the old city, construction began on 4 August 1965. After four years of construction, the Fernsehturm began test broadcasts on 3 October 1969, regardless of its dark origins, it is among the best known sights in Berlin, and hosts around a million visitors a year. When the sun shines on the Fernsehturms tiled stainless steel dome, berliners nicknamed the luminous cross Rache des Papstes, or the Popes Revenge. For the same reasons, the structure was also called St. Walter, U. S. President Ronald Reagan mentioned this in his Tear down this wall speech on 12 June 1987. It is also known as the Toothpick and Telespargel due to its shape
7.
Rotes Rathaus
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The Rotes Rathaus is the town hall of Berlin, located in the Mitte district on Rathausstraße near Alexanderplatz. It is the home to the mayor and the government of the Federal state of Berlin. The name of the building dates from the facade design with red clinker bricks. The Rathaus was built between 1861 and 1869 in the style of the north Italian High Renaissance by Hermann Friedrich Waesemann. It was modelled on the Old Town Hall of Toruń, today Poland and it replaced several individual buildings dating from the Middle Ages and now occupies an entire city block. The building was damaged by Allied bombing in World War II. Following that time, it housed only those of the Soviet sector and they reconstructed Rotes Rathaus, then located in the Soviet sector, served as the town hall of East Berlin, while the Rathaus Schöneberg was the town hall of West Berlin. After German reunification, the administration of reunified Berlin officially moved into the Rotes Rathaus on 1 October 1991, cityMayors feature Red Town Hall 360° Panorama
8.
World Clock (Alexanderplatz)
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For World Clock which is actually an astronomical clock, see Jens Olsens World Clock A world clock is a clock which displays the time for various cities around the world. It could also be a map of the world with embedded analog or digital time-displays. A moving circular map of the world, rotating inside a stationary 24-hour dial ring, alternatively, the disc can be stationary and the ring moving. Light projection onto a map representing daytime, used in the Geochron, there are also worldtime watches, both wrist watches and pocket watches. Manege Square, Moscow Time zone The World Clock, The World Clock Website
9.
Russian Empire
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The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
10.
Alexander I of Russia
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Alexander I reigned as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825. He was the son of Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg, Alexander was the first Russian King of Poland, reigning from 1815 to 1825, as well as the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland. He was sometimes called Alexander the Blessed and he was born in Saint Petersburg to Grand Duke Paul Petrovich, later Emperor Paul I, and succeeded to the throne after his father was murdered. He ruled Russia during the period of the Napoleonic Wars. As prince and emperor, Alexander often used liberal rhetoric, in the first years of his reign, he initiated some minor social reforms and major, liberal educational reforms, such as building more universities. He promised constitutional reforms and a desperately needed reform of serfdom in Russia, Alexander appointed Mikhail Speransky, the son of a village priest, as one of his closest advisors. The Collegia was abolished and replaced by the The State Council, plans were also made to set up a parliament and sign a constitution. In foreign policy, he changed Russias position relative to France four times between 1804 and 1812 among neutrality, opposition, and alliance and he fought a small-scale naval war against Britain between 1807 and 1812. He and Napoleon could never agree, especially about Poland, the tsars greatest triumph came in 1812 as Napoleons invasion of Russia proved a total disaster for the French. As part of the coalition against Napoleon he gained some spoils in Finland and Poland. He formed the Holy Alliance to suppress revolutionary movements in Europe that he saw as threats to legitimate Christian monarchs. He helped Austrias Klemens von Metternich in suppressing all national and liberal movements, in the second half of his reign he was increasingly arbitrary, reactionary and fearful of plots against him, he ended many earlier reforms. He purged schools of teachers, as education became more religiously oriented as well as politically conservative. Speransky was replaced as advisor with the artillery inspector Aleksey Arakcheyev. Alexander died of typhus in December 1825 while on a trip to southern Russia and he left no children as heirs and both of his brothers wanted the other to become emperor. After a period of confusion that included the failed Decembrist revolt of liberal army officers, he was succeeded by his younger brother. Alexander and his younger brother Constantine were raised by their grandmother, some sources allege that she planned to remove her son Paul I from the succession altogether. From the free-thinking atmosphere of the court of Catherine and his Swiss tutor, Frédéric-César de La Harpe, but from his military governor, Nikolay Saltykov, he imbibed the traditions of Russian autocracy
11.
Frederick William III of Prussia
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Frederick William III was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He ruled Prussia during the times of the Napoleonic Wars. Steering a careful course between France and her enemies, after a military defeat in 1806, he eventually and reluctantly joined the coalition against Napoleon in the Befreiungskriege. Following Napoleons defeat he was King of Prussia during the Congress of Vienna which assembled to settle the questions arising from the new. He was determined to unify the Protestant churches, to homogenize their liturgy, their organization, the long-term goal was to have fully centralized royal control of all the Protestant churches in the Prussian Union of churches. Frederick William was born in Potsdam in 1770 as the son of Frederick William II of Prussia and he was considered to be a shy and reserved boy, which became noticeable in his particularly reticent conversations distinguished by the lack of personal pronouns. This manner of speech came to be considered entirely appropriate for military officers. As a child, Frederick Williams father had him handed over to tutors and he spent part of the time living at Paretz, the estate of the old soldier Count Hans von Blumenthal who was the governor of his brother Prince Heinrich. They thus grew up partly with the Counts son, who accompanied them on their Grand Tour in the 1780s, Frederick William was happy at Paretz, and for this reason in 1795 he bought it from his boyhood friend and turned it into an important royal country retreat. He was a boy, but he grew up pious. His tutors included the dramatist Johann Engel, as a soldier he received the usual training of a Prussian prince, obtained his lieutenancy in 1784, became a colonel in 1790, and took part in the campaigns against France of 1792–1794. On 24 December 1793, Frederick William married Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, in the Kronprinzenpalais in Berlin, Frederick William lived a civil life with a problem-free marriage, which did not change even when he became King of Prussia in 1797. His wife Louise was particularly loved by the Prussian people, which boosted the popularity of the whole House of Hohenzollern, Frederick William succeeded to the throne on 16 November 1797. He also became, in union, the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel. He had the Hohenzollern determination to retain personal power but not the Hohenzollern genius for using it, too distrustful to delegate responsibility to his ministers, he lacked the will to strike out and follow a consistent course for himself. Disgusted with the moral debauchery of his fathers court, Frederick Williams first endeavor was to restore morality to his dynasty. He was quoted as saying the following, which demonstrated his sense of duty and peculiar manner of speech, Every civil servant has an obligation, to the sovereign. It can occur that the two are not compatible, then, the duty to the country is higher, at first Frederick William and his advisors attempted to pursue a policy of neutrality in the Napoleonic Wars
12.
Berlin Stadtbahn
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The Berlin Stadtbahn is a major railway thoroughfare in the German capital Berlin, which runs through Berlin from east to west. It connects the district of Friedrichshain with Charlottenburg in the west via 11 intermediate stations including Hauptbahnhof. The Berlin Stadtbahn is often defined as the slightly longer route between Ostkreuz and Westkreuz, although this is not technically correct. The line was built in the 1880s. It is 12 kilometers in length, and is elevated above the citys streets. The four track route carries S-Bahn, Regionalbahn, Regional-Express, Intercity, EuroCity, the Stadtbahn line is an elevated rail line with viaducts totalling 8 kilometers in length and including 731 masonry viaduct arches. A further 2 kilometers of the line are situated on 64 bridges, that cross adjoining streets, the remaining length of the line is on an embankment. The line carries four tracks, in two pairs, the northern pair are reserved for use by the S-Bahn, and are electrifed using a third rail carrying 800V DC. The S-Bahn tracks have platforms at all stations along the Stadtbahn. Six of the Stadtbahn stations have platforms on tracks, although not all trains stop at all stations, depending on the class. The longer distance tracks carry Regionalbahn and Regional-Express routes RE1, RE2, RE7, although most InterCity and Intercity-Express trains now use the north-south tunnel route via Hauptbahnhof, some trains do still remain on the Stadtbahns long distance tracks. These trains, mainly those heading toward Hanover and Cologne, usually call at Hauptbahnhof and Ostbahnhof, in 1871, eight main line railways existed in Berlin, with terminal stations at the citys edge or outside the city limits. This was very impractical for many passengers, who were forced to use hackney carriages to transfer from one train to another, therefore, a railway line was planned to connect these terminuses with each other. On 15 July 1878 the Königliche Direktion der Berliner Stadteisenbahn, under the management of Ernst Dircksen, was commissioned to manage the site, the directorate at first reported to the Prussian Ministry of Transport and later became a subsidiary of the Ministry of Public Operations. The planned railway had two each for freight and passenger traffic. Having taken similar projects in London and New York City into consideration, furthermore, the new railway line was not only to serve as a connection between the mainline terminii in Berlin, but would also offer connections to the Berlin Ringbahn and the suburban rail lines. The traffic routing was not only influenced by the location of the existing stations the line was supposed to connect. One of the drafts, which called for building the line along Leipziger Straße, had to be scrapped because of overly high land prices
listen)) 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 neighbourhood stretching from Mollstraße in the northeast to Spandauer Straße and the Rotes Rathaus in the southwest.
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