Lichtenberg () is a quarter (''Ortsteil'') of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

in the homonymous

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

(''Bezirk'') of Lichtenberg. Until 2001 it was an autonomous district with the localities of Fennpfuhl,

Rummelsburg Rummelsburg () is a subdivision or neighborhood (''Ortsteil'') of the borough (''Bezirk'') of Lichtenberg of the German capital, Berlin. History Rummelsburg was founded in 1669. On 30 January 1889 it became a rural municipality, with the name of ...

, Friedrichsfelde and

Karlshorst Karlshorst (, ; ; literally meaning ''Karl's nest'') is a locality in the borough of Lichtenberg in Berlin. Located there are a harness racing track and the Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin (''HTW''), the largest University of Ap ...

History

The historic village of Lichtenberg, today also called ''Alt-Lichtenberg'', was founded about 1230, due to the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

colonization of the territory of Barnim. The settlement around the

fieldstone church A fieldstone church (german: Feldsteinkirche) is a type of church, built using fieldstone of glacial erratics and glacial rubble. Such cathedrals and monasteries occur mostly in areas where the ice ages have deposited such rock material on the on ...

was first mentioned in a 1288 deed, its estates were acquired by the neighbouring City of Berlin in 1391. ''Alt-Lichtenberg'' suffered severely during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...

and remained a small village at the Berlin gates until in the late 18th century Prussian noblemen like general

Wichard Joachim Heinrich von Möllendorf Wichard Joachim Heinrich von Möllendorf (7 January 1724 – 28 January 1816) was a Generalfeldmarschall of the Kingdom of Prussia. Life and career Möllendorf was born in Lindenberg (Prignitz), now a part of Wittenberge, in the Margraviate of B ...

built their residences here. In 1815 the Lichtenberg estate became a property of the Prussian chancellor

Karl August von Hardenberg Karl August Fürst von Hardenberg (31 May 1750, in Essenrode- Lehre – 26 November 1822, in Genoa) was a Prussian statesman and Prime Minister of Prussia. While during his late career he acquiesced to reactionary policies, earlier in his career ...

. The village came to be a residential area and a suburb of Berlin from the mid 19th century on. A new town hall was erected in 1898 and in 1907 Lichtenberg received

town privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

. Originally an independent city, it became part of Berlin in 1920 in the

Greater Berlin Act The Greater Berlin Act (german: Groß-Berlin-Gesetz), officially Law Regarding the Creation of the New Municipality of Berlin (german: Gesetz über die Bildung einer neuen Stadtgemeinde Berlin), was a law passed by the Prussian state government i ...

Geography

Lichtenberg is located in the middle of its District. It borders with Friedrichshain (in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg), Prenzlauer Berg (in Pankow), Fennpfuhl, Alt-Hohenschönhausen,

, Friedrichsfelde and Marzahn (in Marzahn-Hellersdorf). It has an area of .

Transportation

The locality is served by the Berliner S-Bahn lines S5, S7, S75 at its main railway station Berlin Lichtenberg, periodically used as terminal for international trains to eastern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, as for example the "'' Sibirjak''". Lichtenberg station is also a stop on the U-Bahn line U5, which in addition serves '' Magdalenenstraße''. Furthermore, the locality is crossed by several lines of the tramway. Berlin's main arterial road to the east, the ''Frankfurter Allee'', part of the Bundesstrasse 1 and 5, runs through Lichtenberg.

Berlin's Asiatown in the East

Lichtenberg is a developing center of Asian culture and dubbed the eastern ''Asiatown'' or

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Aust ...

of Berlin. The ''Dong Xuan Center'' around Herzbergstrasse on former industrial grounds is a development quarter with many different Asian businesses, various shops, food producers and wholesalers/distributors, residential areas and cultural offers.Dong Xuan Berlin Chinatown Lichtenberg
/ref>

Gallery

File:Berlin-Lichtenberg 1800.jpg, The kernel of Lichtenberg Village, about 1800 File:Herzberge Krankenhaus B-Lichtenberg 08-14.jpg, Queen Elizabeth Herzberge Hospital in Lichtenberg File:MfS-Haus1a.jpg, View from south to north to the Normannenstraße, at right the former

Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maintaining state autho ...

building near Ruschestraße File:Mölle Buddy Bär vor Rathaus 2013-11-05 ama fec 6.jpg, Buddy Bear in front of the town hall

References

External links

{{Authority control Localities of Berlin