POTSDAMER PLATZ

Description

Essentials about Potsdamer Platz in brief

Hardly any other square in Berlin symbolizes the historical change of the capital, especially after the reunification, as obviously as Potsdamer Platz. At the beginning of the 20th century the beating heart of the German capital, after World War II a wasteland between East and West Berlin and finally after reunification the new start as a modern center of Berlin – hardly any other place in the capital has had such an eventful history. Today, Potsdamer Platz is a lively new district with numerous restaurants, cinemas, theaters, shopping centers and office buildings that captivates with its modern architecture.

The history of Potsdamer Platz

The square owes its name to the Potsdamer Tor on the Berlin-Potsdamer Chaussee, which stood here from the 18th century. With the construction of the Potsdamer long-distance train station, the subway station and numerous streetcar and bus lines, Potsdamer Platz developed into one of the busiest squares in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century and consequently received one of the first traffic light systems on the European continent as early as 1924. But it wasn’t just traffic that was humming at Potsdamer Platz. Life also raged here in the first four decades of the 20th century when the square, with its cafés and restaurants, was a popular meeting place for Berlin’s political and cultural elite.

The Second World War left a devastated Potsdamer Platz, which subsequently became the “three-country corner” between the Soviet, British and American sectors. In addition, the square was divided by the Berlin Wall, which is why it spent more than 40 years in a slumber as an urban wasteland between East and West.

After reunification, urban planners were presented with a unique opportunity to rebuild a complete city quarter in the center of Berlin on the fallow site of Potsdamer Platz. Beginning in the 1990s, Potsdamer Platz gradually became a lively new city district with numerous restaurants, cinemas, theaters, shopping centers and office buildings, captivating above all with its modern architecture.

The attractions on Potsdamer Platz

Especially for film fans, Potsdamer Platz is the Mecca of Berlin, as it is the center of the Berlin Film Festival, which takes place every year in February. In addition, two large multiplex cinemas, an IMAX theater, an arthouse cinema and the Museum für Film und Fernsehen (Museum of Film and TV) are located on Potsdamer Platz. Shopping enthusiasts bustle about in the numerous stores of the Potsdamer Platz Arkaden. Fans of panoramic views can take Europe’s fastest elevator to the Panorama Point in the Kollhoff Tower, from where they can enjoy a magnificent view of Berlin’s skyline. And Lego players will find their happiness at the Legoland Discovery Centre Berlin. Potsdamer Platz has something for (almost) every taste.