Potsdamer Platz
Potsdamer Platz is an important square and traffic intersection in the center of
Berlin,
Germany, about 1 km south of the
Brandenburg Gate (
Brandenburger Tor) and the
Reichstag (German
Parliament Building). It is named after the city of
Potsdam, some 25 km to the south west, and marks the point where the old road from Potsdam passed through the city wall of Berlin at the Potsdam Gate (Potsdamer Tor).
In the
1920s and
1930s, Potsdamer Platz was one of the busiest traffic centers in all of
Europe. Its heyday was in the 1920s, when together with the
Alexanderplatz, it was at the heart of Berlin's
nightlife.
See also 1920s Berlin.As was the case in most of Berlin, many of the buildings around Potsdamer Platz were turned to rubble by air raids and heavy artillery bombardment during the last years of
World War II.When the city was divided into sectors by the occupying Allies at the end of the war, the square found itself on the boundary between the American, British, and Soviet sectors.As
Cold War tensions rose during the
1950s, restrictions were placed on travel between the Soviet sector (
East Berlin) and the western sectors (
West Berlin).Lying on this invisible frontier, Potsdamer Platz was no longer an important destination for Berliners.With the construction of the
Berlin Wall on
August 13,
1961 along this intracity frontier, Potsdamer Platz found itself divided in two.What had once been a busy intersection had become desolate.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in
1989,
Roger Waters staged
a gigantic charity concert of The Wall on
July 21,
1990 to commemorate the end of the division between
East and
West Germany. The concert took place on the then-empty Potsdamer Platz and featured many guest superstars.
After 1990, the square became the focus of attention again, since it was an attractive location suddenly near the center of the city. The city government chose to divide the area into four parts, each to be sold to a commercial investor, which then planned new construction. During the building-phase the Potsdamer Platz was the largest building site in Europe.
The largest of these four parts went to Daimler-Benz, now part of
Daimler-Chrysler, who charged
Renzo Piano with creating a master plan for the new construction. The individual buildings were then built by many individual architects according to that plan. This includes the remarkable Potsdamer Platz No. 1 by
Hans Kollhoff, now home to a number of prestigious law firms (in the photo on the right, the tall brick building in the center).
 |
Potsdamer Platz (June 2003) |
The second largest part went to
Sony, which erected its new European headquarters there. This new
Sony Center by
Helmut Jahn, an impressive, yet light monolith of glass and steel (the rightmost building in the picture on the right), is considered by many to be one of the finest pieces of modern architecture in Berlin.
The whole project was the subject of much criticism from the beginning, and still not everyone applauds how the district was commercialized and replanned. However, the plaza now attracts about 70,000 visitors a day, and many critics are surprised by the success of the new quarter. At almost any time of the day, the place is packed with people. It has become a must-see for visitors, a top shopping area for Berliners, and probably the number-one spot to go for
film fans, with more than 40 screens in three
cinemas, a film academy and a film museum.
Some scenes of the
1987 Wim Wenders movie
Der Himmel über Berlin (English title:
Wings of Desire) are located on the old, almost entirely void Potsdamer Platz before the Wall fell. The movie thus gives a good impression of the surroundings at the time, which are completely unlike what can be seen today.
*
Walks through Berlin: Potsdamer Platz*
Panorama of the new Potsdamer Platz*
Construction at Potsdamer Platz*
Photos of Potsdamer Platz 1989, 1990 and 1999
