Mierendorffplatz is located in

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 ...

Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a German town law, town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Kingdom ...

district at the

intersection In mathematics, the intersection of two or more objects is another object consisting of everything that is contained in all of the objects simultaneously. For example, in Euclidean geometry, when two lines in a plane are not parallel, their ...

of ''Keplerstraße'' and ''Kaiserin-Augusta-Allee''. From the 9000 m² large area, Mierendorffstraße runs in the direction of Charlottenburg Castle and ''Kaiserin-Augusta-Allee'' in the direction of

Moabit Moabit () is an inner city locality in the boroughs of Berlin, borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany. As of 2022, about 84,000 people lived in Moabit. First inhabited in 1685 and incorporated into Berlin in 1861, the former industrial sector, industr ...

. It was named in 1950 after the social democratic politician, social scientist and writer

Carlo Mierendorff Carlo Mierendorff (24 March 1897 – 4 December 1943) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) during the Weimar Republic. An intellectual activist and regional politician in the People's State of Hesse, he played a major rol ...

. The

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

residential area around the square is also popularly known as the ''Mierendorff-Kiez''. The historical name of the place, ''Kalowswerder'', however, is hardly still common.

Location and connections

The square consists of two parts and is situated on the artificial island between the

Spree Spree may refer to: Film and television * ''The Spree'', a 1998 American television film directed by Tommy Lee Wallace * ''Spree'' (film), a 2020 American film starring Joe Keery * "Spree" (''Numbers''), an episode of the television show ''Number ...

and the

Charlottenburg Canal The Charlottenburg Canal, or Charlottenburger Verbindungskanal in German, is a canal in Berlin, Germany. With a former length of , the canal was built between 1848 and 1859, and originally connected the River Spree, in Charlottenburg, with the ...

and

Westhafen Canal The Westhafen Canal, or Westhafenkanal in German, is a canal in Berlin, Germany. The long canal connects with the Westhafen inland port and the Berlin-Spandau Ship Canal at its eastern end, and with the River Spree in Charlottenburg at its we ...

: the rectangular northern jewelry square with fountain and the triangular southern square area, where a weekly market takes place on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It is the busy connection point of a bus line with the line of the

Berlin U-Bahn The Berlin U-Bahn (; short for , "underground railway") is a rapid transit system in Berlin, the capital and largest city of Germany, and a major part of the city's public transport system. Together with the Berlin S-Bahn, S-Bahn, a network of ...

, whose underground station of the same name is located below the green area and was opened in 1980.

History

When planning the surrounding residential area for ordinary people, the square was already taken into account in 1887. It was originally named after King

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden Gustavus Adolphus (9 December ld Style and New Style dates, N.S 19 December15946 November ld Style and New Style dates, N.S 16 November1632), also known in English as Gustav II Adolf or Gustav II Adolph, was King of Sweden from 1611 t ...

in connection with the Reformation quarter. It was not until 1912/1913 that the park was designed by the municipal horticultural director

Erwin Barth Erwin Barth (28 November 1880 – 10 July 1933) was a German landscape gardener and architect. His work was part of the architecture event in the art competition at the 1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics (), officially the G ...

. In contrast to the magnificent and representative parks of the late 19th century, Mierendorffplatz is rather functional but at the same time sophisticated. The northern part of the square was again divided into two parts. In the eastern part a

playground A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people wi ...

, in the west a flower garden was created, whose axis cross in the middle is supplemented by a

fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" ( genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. Fountains were o ...

. Inside the square,

roses A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be e ...

were mainly planted. The plant is surrounded by plane trees. After 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 ...

, the square was initially used for allotments. In 1950/1951 it was converted into a green area, which was then named after ''Mierendorff''. After the construction of the

underground station A metro station or subway station is a train station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the syste ...

, which was built in the 1970s in an open construction method, the square could be reconstructed in close accordance with Barth's plans. Fountains, benches, gates and lamps were reproduced true to the original. The ''Gustav Meyer Prize'' (named after the landscape designer

Gustav Meyer Gustav Meyer (25 November 1850 – 28 August 1900) was a German linguist and Indo-European scholar, considered to be one of the most important Albanologists of his time, most importantly by proving that the Albanian language belongs to the Indo-E ...

) was awarded for the historical reconstruction in 2000. A

commemorative plaque A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, bearing text or an image in relief, or both, ...

commemorates Barth.

Gallery

Charlottenburg Mierendorffplatz Brunnen-001.jpg, Mierendorffplatz-Eckhaus-Berlin-Charlottenburg-01-2018.jpg, MierendorffplatzNord.jpg, Gedenktafel Mierendorffplatz (Charl) Mierendorffplatz.jpg,

References

External links

* {{Authority control Charlottenburg Squares in Berlin