Leipziger Platz is an octagonal square in the center of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. It is located along

Leipziger Straße Leipziger Straße, or Leipziger Strasse (see ß), is a major thoroughfare in the central Mitte district of Berlin, capital of Germany. It runs from Leipziger Platz, an octagonal square adjacent to Potsdamer Platz in the west, to Spittelmar ...

east of (and adjacent to)

Potsdamer Platz Potsdamer Platz (, ''Potsdam Square'') is a public square and traffic intersection in the center of Berlin, Germany, lying about south of the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag building, Reichstag (Bundestag, German Parliament Building), and ...

History

Layout and original architecture

The square with the shape of an octagon, initially also officially called ''Octogon'', was laid out together with the square-shaped

Pariser Platz Pariser Platz () is a square in the historic center of Berlin, Germany, situated by the Brandenburg Gate at the end of Unter den Linden boulevard. The square is named after the French capital of Paris to commemorate the victory of the Sixth ...

(also: Quareé) and the circular ''Belle-Alliance-Platz'' (also: Rondell, since 1947

Mehringplatz Mehringplatz is a round plaza (or circus)A circus is "circular open space at a street junction" at the southern tip of the Friedrichstadt neighborhood of Kreuzberg district, Berlin. It marks the southern end of Friedrichstraße. Until 1970 b ...

) according to plans by Philipp Gerlach in 1734 and increasingly enclosed by representative residential, administrative and commercial buildings. All three squares of the urban ensemble were named in 1814/1815 in memory of the wars of liberation. In 1814, the Octagon was given its name in memory of the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig (Völkerschlacht), aligned with

, which had existed long before. In 1796, the

Academy of Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

held a contest to design a memorial for

Frederick II of Prussia Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself '' King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prus ...

Friedrich Gilly Friedrich David Gilly (16 February 1772 – 3 August 1800) was a German architect and the son of the architect David Gilly. His works are influenced by revolutionary architecture (''Revolutionsarchitektur''). Born in Altdamm, Pomerania, (today ...

proposed a temple monument to be placed on Leipziger Platz in Berlin for this purpose. The design was never built, but it can be viewed in the

Kupferstichkabinett Berlin The Kupferstichkabinett, or Museum of Prints and Drawings, is a Print room, prints museum in Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Berlin State Museums, and is located in the Kulturforum on Potsdamer Platz. It is the largest museum of graphic art ...

(Museum of Prints and Drawings). In imperial times (1871-1918), the Prussian Ministry of Agriculture was located on the south side (nos. 6-10), the Prussian Ministry of Trade on the southeast corner, and the Reichsmarineamt (Navy Ministry) on the northeast corner at no. 13. The Mosse Palace extended from Leipziger Platz 15 on the north side to

Voßstraße (also sometimes: ''Voss Strasse'' or ''Vossstrasse'' (see also ß); ) is a street in central Berlin, the capital of Germany. It runs east–west from Ebertstraße to Wilhelmstraße in the borough of Mitte, one street north of Leipziger Stra� ...

. Leipziger Platz 16 was originally built with the Palais Bleichröder. On 27 May 1902, James von Bleichröder transferred the building to the then Kaiserlicher Automobil Club (KAC, today: Automobilclub von Deutschland, AvD). In November 2011, it became known that the AvD had sold the property to a real estate investor. On its western side, Leipziger Platz merges into the better-known

. The Zoll- und Akzisemauer (Customs and Acquisition Wall) separated the two squares until it was demolished in 1867, but the Potsdamer Tor remained standing. After 1867, the importance of the area shifted in favour of Potsdamer Platz, which grew into an important traffic hub. Leipziger Platz developed into an important business address in Berlin, partly due to the construction of the Wertheim department stores at the end of the 19th century. The actual landscaped square area was initially separated from the development by means of a large iron grille against the public footpaths around the square. In 1902, therefore, Berlin's municipal park deputation decided to open up the square and replace the boundary with a low enclosure. The new green space design was entrusted to the horticultural director Hermann Mächtig with the task of giving special protection to the "beautiful hundred-year-old linden trees" in the process.

Since the Second World War

Leipziger Platz was reduced to ruins during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and was once part of the no man's land surrounding the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

, but has since been reconstructed in its original configuration, albeit with modern architecture. Prior to the war, the square was home to the Reichsmarineamt (Reich Navy Office, originally on Leipziger Platz 13, moved to No. 17/

No. 20 in the 1900s), the Wertheim flagship department store (numbers 12-13), the Mosse-Palais (headquarters of the German publisher

Hans Lachmann-Mosse Hans (John Rudolf) Lachmann-Mosse, ''till 1911'' Hans Lachmann (August 9, 1885 - April 18, 1944), was a German publisher, director during the Weimar years of the Rudolf Mosse media empire whose titles included the '' Berliner Morgen-Zeitung'' and ...

, Leipziger Platz 15), Palast-Hotel (No. 18-19) and the Prussian Ministry of Agriculture (No. 6-9). Today, it is home to the Canadian Embassy. There is also a little piece of the Berlin Wall located in the southern half.

References

External links

Interactive 360° panoramic view of Leipziger Platz 2009
{{Authority control Squares in Berlin Buildings and structures in Mitte