Bus: 100, 157, 348
Unter den Linden is one of the most famous and
beautiful streets in Berlin. In the old times Unter den Linden was
used as route for the royal family to leave their capital and go to
hunting grounds. In the 17th century previously nameless name was
named after lime trees that were planted along its length. In the
16th century, the predecessor of the present-day entertainment and
shopping boulevard was nothing more than a bridle path , which had
been built in 1573 at the behest of the Elector Johann Georg . He
joined the Berlin City Palace with the Tiergarten, which was
established in 1527 .
After the Thirty Years' War devastated the castle, Lust- und
Tiergarten and the country suffered from the consequences of the
war, Elector Friedrich Wilhelm began to create new gardens and
avenues. He sent his gardeners on trips to re-create the pleasure
garden with all sorts of foreign plants. Through the electoral
governor in Cleves and Mark, Prince Johann-Moritz von Nassau-Siegen
, the suggestion and the plan for the construction of a Dutch avenue
, as a link between Lustgarten and Tiergarten. The old hunting lane
was to be converted into a six-row gallery with 1000 walnut and 1000
linden trees. The center of this system ofVisual axes should form
the city castle. However, there were problems with the purchase of
the trees because the surrounding forestries were unable to raise
2000 trees within such a short time. So the setting of the trees was
postponed to spring 1647. Already in the same autumn the Elector was
able to visit the avenue, which was 250 long rhine rods (about 942
meters) long.
Unter den Linden still showed nothing of the vibrant life of the
city. It passed through sandy fields with some farms. In 1663 the
Kronprinzenpalais was built at the beginning of the street, though
it was later moved into by the Crown Prince and Queen. As early as
1658, the young trees in the eastern part of the street fell victim
to the newly-built fortifications. Berlin became a large fortress,
In order to connect the Tiergarten park and the Lindenstraße, which
were located outside the walls, with the castle, the New Town Gate
was built in front of the castle. However, the Wall was moved
steadily west as the 'New Town' grew rapidly. As a result, the
eastern part of the Unter den Linden was cleared and the beginning
was now approximately where it is still today. The remaining part,
which now lay outside the fortress and was not lined with any
buildings, left the Elector in 1670 to his wife Dorothea . The
enterprising princess divided the sandy fields into plots and sold
them, creating the new suburb (from 1674: Dorotheenstadt). Only now
did the road become more important due to increasing construction
and traffic. The trees were cared for and some Holsteinian winter
linden trees were added. Many Huguenots were already then in the New
Town, which was limited in the south by the Lindenallee (then called
Neustadtische avenue ), down. The Lindenallee lured the city
dwellers out into the open and many painters made them their
motives. The street was not paved yet and the walkers complained
that they would always be wrapped in dust clouds when a coach passed
them. But on a pavementthey had to wait a few more years. Also, the
still simple houses were inhabited only by farmers and lower court
officials. Soon, the magnificent buildings that have been preserved
to this day have sprung up.
The beginnings
In the 16th century, the forerunner of today's
representation and promenade was nothing more than a bridle path that
was laid out in 1573 at the behest of Elector Johann Georg. It connected
the Berlin City Palace with the Tiergarten, which was set up in 1527.
After the Thirty Years' War had devastated the palace, pleasure
gardens and zoo and the country suffered from the consequences of the
war, Elector Friedrich Wilhelm began to lay out new gardens and avenues.
He sent his gardeners on trips to lay out all kinds of foreign plants in
the pleasure garden. The electoral governor in Kleve and Mark, Prince
Johann-Moritz von Nassau-Siegen, suggested and planned the construction
of a Dutch-style avenue as a connection between the pleasure garden and
the zoo. The old hunting path was to be converted into a six-row gallery
with 1000 nut and 1000 linden trees. The city palace was to form the
center of this system of visual axes. However, there were problems when
buying the trees, as the surrounding foresters were not able to procure
2000 trees in such a short time. So the planting of the trees was
postponed to spring 1647 or autumn 1647. In the same autumn, the elector
was able to visit the avenue, which was 250 Rhineland rods (equivalent
to around 942 meters) long.
The street still showed nothing of
the pulsating life of the city. It led through sandy fields with some
farms. The Kronprinzenpalais was built at the beginning of the street in
1663, but the crown prince couple only moved into it later. As early as
1658, the young trees in the eastern part of the street fell victim to
the newly built fortifications. Berlin became a great fortress. In order
to connect the Tiergarten and Lindenstraße, which lay outside the wall,
with the palace, the Neustadt gate was built in front of the palace.
However, the wall was steadily shifted westward as the 'New City' grew
rapidly. As a result, the eastern part of the lime trees was removed and
the beginning was now roughly where it is today. In 1670, the elector
left the rest of the area, which was now deserted outside the fortress
and surrounded by no buildings, to his wife Dorothea. The enterprising
princess divided the sandy fields into plots and sold them, creating the
new suburb (from 1674: Dorotheenstadt). Only now did the road really
gain importance due to increasing building and traffic. The trees were
cared for and a few Holstein small-leaved limes were added. At that
time, many Huguenots already settled in the Neustadt, which was limited
to the south by the Lindenallee (at that time it was called Neustädten
Allee). The avenue of linden trees lured the townspeople out into the
open and many painters made them their motifs. The road wasn't paved yet
and the walkers complained that they were always enveloped in clouds of
dust when a carriage passed them. But they had to wait a few more years
for a paving. The still simple houses were only inhabited by farmers and
lower court officials. Soon the magnificent buildings that have survived
to this day were erected.
development into a boulevard
In 1696
Friedrich I founded an academy of arts and in 1700 an academy of science
on Lindenallee. However, these were moved to Breite Straße in 1724.
Friedrichstadt was built south of the Linden. The Lindenallee received
some public buildings and imposing houses of the court servants. The
street was now in frequent use because the queen had had a summer palace
built at the western end in Lietzenburg (today: Charlottenburg) and was
enthusiastically organizing balls, masquerades and plays. Frederick I
took great care to keep his avenue well tended, but pigs still roamed it
and grubbed up the ground. In 1707 he passed a law according to which
every resident should watch out for the linden trees in front of his
house and report any damage.
In 1706 the arsenal, which today
belongs to the Unter den Linden street, was finished on the outside, but
the interior work took another 36 years. At that time, 150,000 rifles
and war trophies were stored in what is now the oldest building under
the lime trees. Since 1937 (see below), the arsenal, together with the
commander's house, has formed the eastern end of the street. Not far
from there, Friedrich the Great and his architect Georg Wenzeslaus von
Knobelsdorff wanted to build an extensive new royal residence after
1740, as well as a spacious square with other representative buildings.
The new palace was not built, but the Forum Fridericianum, today's
Bebelplatz, with the opera house, St. Hedwig's Cathedral, the Royal
Library and Prince Heinrich's Palace was built - later the first
building of the Humboldt University, founded in 1810.
The western
part of the street, which was named before 1937, was gradually expanded
from 1674 to the middle of the 18th century. In the 19th century, after
defeating Napoleon, Friedrich Wilhelm III. the squares at the opera
house and at the arsenal were expanded into a triumphal street by his
master builder Karl Friedrich Schinkel. To the west of these squares,
where - coming from the castle - the street changes from an open
boulevard to an equally wide but more reserved avenue, the equestrian
statue of Frederick the Great was erected. This work by the sculptor
Christian Daniel Rauch is one of the most important representative works
of sculpture of the 19th century and a model for numerous other works of
this time.
The original six rows of linden trees (and nut trees)
that gave it its name were repeatedly reduced to four rows (finally:
1820) and plane trees and chestnuts often had to be added, so that the
Berliners "for a long time only partially 'Unter den Linden'".
In
the 19th century, the western part of Unter den Linden initially became
a representative, middle-class residential area, which then, in the
years after 1871, changed relatively quickly into a bustling
metropolitan business area with shops, restaurants and agency buildings.
The British Hotel Berlin was the residence of the British Ambassador at
the time and was preferred by travelers from Great Britain. In 1880, the
ruling house passed a special linden statute that limited the height of
buildings to 22 meters, set the street width at 60 meters and prescribed
the minimum number of linden trees (297).
After the first
electric street lighting on Potsdamer Platz and on Leipziger Straße was
successfully put into operation in September 1882 and the arc lamp light
was much brighter than the old gas lanterns, a few years later the
boulevard Unter den Linden was also to be given electric lighting. In
November 1887, the city of Berlin announced a limited competition for
the design of ornate arc lamp candelabra, which Ludwig Schupmann won. A
total of 104 lamps with a mounting height of 8 m were built according to
this design and installed in 1888 on Unter den Linden, on Pariser Platz,
on Opernplatz and Kaiser-Wilhelm-Straße, which were later named after
their creator as the Schupmann candelabra .
From October 1901,
the Hotel Imperial (Unter den Linden 44), in whose foyer four hundred
seats and a stage had been installed, was the permanent venue for Max
Reinhardt's cabaret Schall und Rauch. In the following season, the
cabaret became the Small Theater, which is now regarded as the starting
point of Max Reinhardt's great theatrical career. The barren house
described by E. T. A. Hoffmann is number 9 of the old census on the site
of today's Russian Embassy. In the neighboring house at Unter den Linden
No. 8 was the legendary Fuchs confectionery, which opened in 1816.
designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel.
The street name was extended
in 1937 to the Schlossbrücke - which increased the length of the street
from around 940 meters to almost 1.5 kilometers and was due to the need
for recognition of the National Socialist Reich capital - and therefore
the house number count changed. Until then, counting began at the Palais
Redern (today: Hotel Adlon) on Pariser Platz and, according to the
horseshoe numbering system, progressed number by number on the southern
side to the Forum Fridericianum (today: Bebelplatz), only to return to
the Linden on the north side. The street name thus extended to the area
in which the street is actually planted with linden trees, while the
squares Kaiser-Franz-Joseph-Platz (before 1910 the square by the opera
house before 1910) and the square by the armory adjoined to the east.
Due to the changeover to the orientation numbering, the numbers were now
assigned jumping in the direction of the Brandenburg Gate, the two
places mentioned were included for the first time, and the commandant's
office became house number 1. This created the oddity that
Kaiser-Franz-Joseph-Platz, 1947 in Renamed Bebelplatz since consisting
of two squares east and west of the opera house, with the street
connection north of the opera house now being considered part of the
Unter den Linden boulevard and no longer part of a square surrounding
the opera house.
During the Second World War, the street was
almost completely destroyed during Allied air raids and the Battle of
Berlin. One of the few remaining usable buildings was the Roman Court
building on Unter den Linden, while the building on Charlottenstrasse
remained an unused ruin until the early 1990s.
From the 19th century, the street Unter den Linden had a significant
traffic importance for the city. First, there was a dress code for
pedestrians that was often discussed publicly. From 1846 the first
horse-drawn buses ran here and in 1905 the first motorized buses in
Berlin. For aesthetic reasons, Kaiser Wilhelm II insisted on moving the
intersecting tram line to the Linden Tunnel in 1916.
In 1925 the
deck seats of the motorized buses were covered; this resulted in the
double-decker buses that are still typical of Berlin today. After the
street was extended to Alexanderplatz in the 1880s, a thoroughfare was
created and brought the previously leisurely strollers the big-city
traffic noise. As early as 1913 there was a branch of the National
Automobile Company NAG on Unter den Linden. The Unter den
Linden/Friedrichstrasse intersection in particular quickly developed
into the busiest and most chaotic junction in Berlin. In order to
separate automobile and carriage traffic from heavy foot traffic, the
latter was diverted through the Kaisergalerie. In 1902, Prussia's first
traffic policeman regulated traffic and soon exchanged his whistle for a
trumpet. Since even this was not enough, the southern Friedrichstraße
became the first one-way street in the city.
Shortly after the
"seizure of power" by the National Socialists, the widening of the
roadways began in 1934, because the road was intended as part of the
50-kilometer east-west axis for the "world capital Germania". When the
Berlin Wall was built in 1961, the street was popularly referred to as
the "most representative dead end in the world". After German
reunification, the Brandenburg Gate was first opened to motor vehicle
traffic, but since 2002 it has only been possible for pedestrians and
cyclists to cross it. The discussion about the further development of
the road was aimed at attractive business and cultural bids and, above
all, at greater road safety and better comfort for pedestrians.
With the exception of a small section in the west, the generously
developed road is part of the two federal roads B 2 and B 5. In addition
to the Leipziger Strasse (Bundesstrasse 1), which runs parallel to the
south, it carries the main part of the traffic from the City West
(Kurfürstendamm, Breitscheidplatz and Tauentzienstraße) to the center of
old Berlin around Alexanderplatz and connects numerous important
facilities and sights with each other.
The boulevard until the
end of the GDR
Between the summer of 1945 and around 1948, the many
destroyed palaces and buildings had to be cleared, which is why a rubble
track was laid along the boulevard and countless volunteers lent a hand.
In the course of the subsequent reconstruction, the first new building
from 1949 to 1951 was the Embassy of the Soviet Union, an example of
magnificent Stalinist architecture and a symbol of the political ties
between the then newly founded GDR and the Soviet Union. After the
collapse of the Soviet Union, the building is the Embassy of the Russian
Federation.
After initial reconstruction planning and use as an
exhibition venue, the heavily damaged Berlin City Palace was blown up in
1950 at the instigation of the SED for the purpose of creating a
demonstration area as the new terminus of the Unter den Linden street.
By the end of the 1960s, most of the historic buildings on the east
side of the street had been rebuilt, with the exception of the old
commandant's office, which was only reconstructed in 2003 as the
Bertelsmann media group's representative office in the capital. The
Palace of the Republic was built on the Spree side of the palace from
1973 to 1976. A new building for the Foreign Ministry of the GDR was
built on the site of the Commandant’s Office along the Spree Canal.
On the east side of the corner with Friedrichstraße, the new
development, the buildings of the Lindencorso and the Hotel Unter den
Linden, were set back, so that in the course of the widening of
Friedrichstraße north and south of Unter den Linden, green squares with
seating were created.
New users moved into the reconstructed
buildings and the new buildings in the western part of the street in the
international style. An occupancy plan from 1974 shows the following
facilities:
North side from west to east
Embassy of the
Hungarian People's Republic; Embassy of the People's Republic of Poland;
central office for research requirements; car showroom; export company
Wiratex; Small café Unter den Linden (today: Café Einstein); bookstore
for women; Ministry of Foreign Trade; men's outfitters; travel company
Balkantourist; French Embassy, Italian Embassy; (in today's Zollernhof):
Central Council of the FDJ with central management of the pioneer
organization; Committee for Tourism and Hiking; FDJ district leadership
Berlin; Sporting goods store (in today's Kaiserhöfe): fabric shop
display case; underwear specialty store; British Embassy, Tunisian
Embassy; Boutique Sibyl; SAS Scandinavian Airlines; (in the Swiss
house): Sparkasse; Interhotel Unter den Linden (now demolished); watch
shop; Zeitzer leather goods; souvenir shop Bulgaria; Bulgarian Cultural
Center (in today's new building of the Roman Courts); German State
Library; Humboldt University; Memorial to the Victims of Fascism and
Militarism; Museum of German History.
South side from west to
east
Ministry of Public Education; Permanent exhibition of teaching
materials; university bookstore; Berlin souvenir; Representation of the
Soviet Committee for Cultural Connections with compatriots abroad in the
GDR; trade mission of the USSR in the GDR; Embassy of the USSR;
Counselor for Economic Affairs of the USSR Embassy; Intourist and
Aeroflot, Novosti (APN); (in the apartment building): antiquarian
bookshop on Friedrichstrasse (“Linden-Antiquariat”), Danish embassy;
Office of the Comic Opera; art salon; Special shop for Meissen
porcelain; fur shop; arts and crafts salon; Havana shop (deli shop);
linden parade; German Building Academy; Bookstore The Soviet Book; House
of Unions; International Women's Democratic Federation (IDFF); central
board of IG Metall; (Governor's House): HUB Education Section; (Altes
Palais): Institute of the Pedagogy Section of the HUB; (dresser):
Library of the HUB; State Bank of the GDR (on Bebelplatz); Saint
Hedwig's Cathedral; German State Opera; opera cafe; (Palais Unter den
Linden): guest house of the Council of Ministers; Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of the GDR (on the banks of the Spree, now demolished).
After German reunification
In 1994 and 1997, the Bundestag moved into
two office buildings on the boulevard, the Matthias-Erzberger-Haus and
the Otto-Wels-Haus.
Since 1990, when the Palace of the Republic
had to be closed due to asbestos contamination, the question of whether
the GDR building should be renovated or whether the old city palace
should be built in its place or something completely different has been
the subject of lively controversy. The building was then completely
demolished between February 6, 2006 and the end of 2008. On November 28,
2008, an architectural competition for the reconstruction of the city
palace took place, which Francesco Stella won. The draft was
subsequently approved by the Bundestag after minor changes. However, the
start of construction, which was then decided for 2010, was postponed by
a few years due to a lack of financial security. On June 12, 2013, the
foundation stone was laid for the new building in the cubature of the
old city palace and with a three-sided historical facade. In December
2020 it was opened as the Humboldt Forum.
At the beginning of
2006, the Interhotel Unter den Linden, built in the 1960s, was
demolished in favor of a new building, the Upper Eastside Berlin
building complex, which was completed in 2008. Already from 1994 to 1996
the opposite Lindencorso was replaced by a new building. In both cases,
the new buildings were erected directly along Friedrichstraße, so that
the historic street spaces have been restored while giving up the
squares created in the 1960s.
Some celebrities in or on this
street
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe stayed in Berlin from May 15th to
20th, 1778. During this time he lived in what was then the Hotel de
Russie, Unter den Linden 23. The hotel was later called the Hotel zur
Goldenen Sonne and also accommodated Friedrich Schiller for a few days
in 1804. It does not exist anymore.
E. T. A. Hoffmann wrote in
his night work Das öde Haus (1817) about an old building which,
according to his friend Julius E. Hitzig, is Unter den Linden No. 9 (old
count). This is approximately the location of the Russian embassy today.
It was demolished in 1824. An engraving from 1820 that has survived to
this day depicts it. The bench and the confectionery Fuchs (No. 8),
which appear in the novella, are also clearly visible.
On May 7,
1866, 22-year-old Ferdinand Cohen-Blind shot Prussian Prime Minister
Otto von Bismarck with a revolver as he was walking from the Royal
Palace to his office on Wilhelmstrasse. Bismarck was able to continue
his way home almost unharmed.
The equestrian statue of Frederick the Great, created by Christian
Daniel Rauch, has been located at the eastern end of the median since
1851. It was dismantled in the GDR era in 1950 and re-erected on the
occasion of Berlin's 750th anniversary in 1987.
Since 1883, the
Wilhelm von Humboldt memorial by Martin Paul Otto has been located in
front of the Humboldt University on the left and the Alexander von
Humboldt memorial by Reinhold Begas on the right. In the Court of Honor
there are monuments to Hermann von Helmholtz by Ernst Herter, to Theodor
Mommsen by Adolf Brütt, to Max Planck by Bernhard Heiliger and to Lise
Meitner by Anna Franziska Schwarzbach. In front of the east wing is a
monument to Eilhard Mitscherlich by Ferdinand Hartzer.
In front
of the Neue Wache there was a statue of Friedrich Wilhelm von Bülow on
the left and a statue of Gerhard David von Scharnhorst by Christian
Daniel Rauch on the right since 1822. They were dismantled on the orders
of Walter Ulbricht in 1950 and re-erected in 2002 opposite the Neue
Wache, where the statues for Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg, Gebhard
Leberecht von Blücher and August Neidhardt von Gneisenau, also created
by Christian Daniel Rauch, were originally located. These in turn have
been in the rear part of the Prinzessinnengarten since 1964. Historians
and associations are calling for the statues to be re-erected at their
original location, where they were part of Karl Friedrich Schinkel's
sculptural program, which ranged from the warriors on the Castle Bridge
to the Victorians at the Neue Wache to the equestrian statue of
Frederick the Great; However, the State Monument Council has so far
rejected this.