The Red Town Hall ( ) is the town hall 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 ...

, Germany, located in the

Mitte Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding. It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreuz ...

district on Rathausstraße near Alexanderplatz. It is the home to the governing mayor and the government (the Senate of Berlin) of the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

of the city.

History

The town hall was built between 1861 and 1869 in the style of the

Northern Italy Northern Italy (, , ) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. The Italian National Institute of Statistics defines the region as encompassing the four Northwest Italy, northwestern Regions of Italy, regions of Piedmo ...

High

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

Hermann Friedrich Waesemann Hermann Friedrich Waesemann (6 June 1813 – 28 January 1879) was a German architect. He was born in Danzig (Gdańsk), the son of an architect. He studied mathematics and science in Bonn from 1830 to 1832, before going to Berlin to study ...

. It was modelled on the Old Town Hall of Thorn (today

Toruń Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...

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), while the architecture of the tower is reminiscent of the cathedral tower of Notre-Dame de Laon in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It replaced several individual buildings dating from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

and now occupies an entire city block. The building was heavily damaged by Allied bombing in World War II and rebuilt to the original plans between 1951 and 1956. The ''Neues Stadthaus'', which survived the bombing and had formerly been the head office of Berlin's municipal fire insurance ''Feuersozietät'' in Parochialstraße served as the temporary city hall for the post-war city government for all the sectors of Berlin until September 1948. Following that time, it housed only those of the Soviet sector. The reconstructed Red Town Hall, then located in the Soviet sector, served as the town hall of

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

, while the

Rathaus Schöneberg Rathaus Schöneberg is the City and town halls, city hall for the Boroughs of Berlin, borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg in Berlin, Germany. From 1949 until 1990 it served as the seat of the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin, state senate of West Berlin a ...

was the town hall of

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

. "Red Town Hall" (''Rotes Rathaus'') was also used figuratively to designate the socialist government of East Berlin, the Magistrat. After

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

, the administration of reunified Berlin officially moved into the building on 1 October 1991. File:Ayuntamiento Rojo, Berlín, Alemania, 2016-04-22, DD 37-39 HDR.jpg, Tower and clock of Red Town Hall File:Rotes Rathaus, Berlin.jpg, The Red Town Hall at night File:Rotes Rathaus vom Fernsehturm aus.jpg, Seen from the Fernsehturm File:Berlin- The Rotes Rathaus with the Neptunbrunnen in front - 2761.jpg, The Red Town Hall and Neptunbrunnen File:LNM 03-13 Rotes Rathaus 08.jpg, Entrance hall of the Rathaus File:Torun Ratusz Staromiejski 2010 03 04 7189.JPG,

town hall, inspiration for the Red Town Hall

External links

CityMayors feature

Rotes Rathaus website
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Mitte City and town halls in Germany Government buildings completed in 1869 1869 establishments in Prussia Official residences of subnational executives Rebuilt buildings and structures in Berlin Buildings and structures in Berlin destroyed during World War II

History

See also

External links