Leopoldplatz (Berlin)
| Leopoldplatz | |
|---|---|
 |
|
 Leopoldplatz with the old Nazareth church and fountain system |
|
| Basic data | |
| place | Berlin |
| District | Wedding |
| Created | 19th century |
| Newly designed | 20th century, 21st century |
| Confluent streets |
Müllerstrasse , Nazarethkirchstrasse, Turiner Strasse, Malplaquetstrasse, Maxstrasse, Ruheplatzstrasse, Prinz-Eugen-Strasse, Schulstrasse, Luxemburger Strasse |
| Buildings | two churches, fountains, sculpture |
| use | |
| User groups | Pedestrians , cyclists |
| Space design | Hermann Mächtig |
| Technical specifications | |
| Square area | 45,000 m² |
The Leopold Square , also briefly Leo called, is a about 4.5 hectares large elongated square in the district Wedding of Berlin's Mitte district , which since 1891 the name of Leopold I wears.
location
Leopoldplatz is bordered by Müllerstraße , Nazarethkirchstraße, Maxstraße and Schulstraße. The Müllerstrasse is the central traffic axis in the area of the square. Turiner Straße crosses the square and divides it into a north-east and a south-west area. Malplaquetstrasse, Prinz-Eugen- Strasse, Ruheplatzstrasse, Hochstätter and Luxemburger Strasse all flow into it . As with the surrounding streets, the name of the square refers to the War of the Spanish Succession , in which the young Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm took part in 1706 and 1709 under Leopold and Eugen. Diagonally across the street from Müllerstraße is the town hall forecourt , which is treated as part of a public space with Müllerplatz in urban planning terms.
history
Leopoldplatz was built around the Old Nazareth Church, which was built between 1832 and 1835 . This was one of the four suburban churches that Karl-Friedrich Schinkel had built on the outskirts of Berlin in order to open up the developing rural areas outside Berlin. The development took place in three steps. First around the Old Nazareth Church between 1882 and 1887, then around the New Nazareth Church in 1894 and finally in the space between the two squares. 1906-1909.
On the Hobrecht plan , the first development plan for this area, from 1862 a place with the designation JI, Dept. X / 1 was entered. At that time, the place itself was still used as a potato field or was wasteland. The only development apart from the Old Nazareth Church was a poorly maintained house in which the parish treaders lived.
Since 1880 the Nazareth parish has tried to horticulturally upgrade the areas around the Old Nazareth Church, which had already been completed a few decades earlier . The community offered to leave land that belonged to them to the city of Berlin. The Wedding District Association, an association of respected Weddinger citizens, supported the project by referring to the few green spaces in the growing Weddings. Hermann Mächtig provided the corresponding plans , who envisaged the design of this square in three steps. Mächtig's plan was 1878 square meters of paths, 2631 square meters of planting and 4815 square meters of lawn. At first nothing happened due to lack of money. Construction only began when various private foundations made funds available.
The first expansion took place between 1882 and 1887, again financed from foundation funds. Already during this time there were numerous complaints about "light-shy rabble" that were on the square. The discussion reached a climax after a seven-year-old girl was murdered on the square in the 1880s. After the square was named after Leopold I , Prince of Anhalt-Dessau , on April 2, 1891 and the New Nazareth Church was inaugurated, the second section of the square was also given green spaces in 1893. These also followed Mächtig's plans.
Between 1906 and 1909, the final third stage of space regulation finally took place: The designed area between the two churches closed off the new "Schmuckplatz". In 1924 , Clara Grunwald set up the first Volkskinderhaus in the pavilion buildings of the secular school on Leopoldplatz .
During the Second World War , the area around Müllerstrasse was badly damaged. After the rubble had been removed , the City Garden Authority redesigned Leopoldplatz several times, especially after the Leopoldplatz underground station was built . The first redesign took place in 1951 according to plans by Günther Rieck, which merged the individual sections and simplified the entire space conception. In 1954 the rededication of the Old Nazareth Church, which was badly damaged during the war, took place. In 1979/1980 the horticultural office in Wedding redesigned the area behind the New Nazareth Church, including play areas, a football field and a seating and relaxation area.
In 1984/1985 the area from Müllerstrasse to the New Nazareth Church was redesigned. When it was redesigned in 1985, Leopoldplatz received a fountain as an additional decoration, directly in front of the Old Nazareth Church. The design of the fountain system came from the garden and landscape architect Michael Hennemann. A small round basin with a diameter of 1.70 meters made of the light, fine-grain Hauzenberg granite from Hauzenberg near Passau was surrounded by a larger basin with a diameter of 6.10 meters with a 55 centimeter high arched edge. In the warm season, a high central fountain rose from the inner basin, which was surrounded by 18 jump lamps arranged in a ring. Their water flowed in an arc into the outside pool. According to earlier fountain designs, the enclosure of the system was designed as a seat edge. Five built-in spotlights illuminated the water feature in the evening.
In the 2000s, its green spaces were renewed. In the northern part of the square, sports and play corners were built with a paved labyrinth in the middle.
Around the 2000s, the condition and use caused increasing criticism. Leopoldplatz became the central focus of a redesign of the entire Müllerstrasse. It had become a popular meeting place for the drinker and drug scene , so that the quality of stay for all other users fell sharply. In 2008, the Partners for Müllerstrasse initiative was founded from residents, tradespeople and the Nazareth community who wanted to upgrade the square. In 2009 a list of signatures was drawn up for politicians, the police and the administration, calling on them to improve the situation on the square. In October 2009, the Mitte district initiated a round table that wanted to find a solution for the square with everyone involved.
Various measures were taken to redesign the square, which were developed between the administration and those affected. A special feature was that the drinking and drug scenes were also included in the planning process, with social workers mediating between them and the round table. A place to stay in the middle part of the square was set up for the drinking scene. In the front part, at the former meeting point of the drinkers, the Cafe Leo was built , a small snack bar that exclusively offers non-alcoholic gastronomy. Since there were always complaints about people relieving themselves in public, a public toilet was also built in the middle part of the square. The original fountain was replaced by a flat fountain field. The inauguration of the newly designed square took place on October 25, 2013.
Development of the square and its edges
The perimeter development of the square and its adjacent quarters is characterized by block perimeter development from the period before 1990.
Karstadt
The Karstadt department store, which opened in 1978, is located on the southeast corner of Leopoldplatz . Karstadt had already bought the site in the 1920s. It wasn't until the 1970s that the group saw the transport links and the structure of the area's population as promising enough to really build a department store. Small supermarkets, fruit and vegetable sellers, bakery and bank branches in this area of Müllerstraße enrich the offer in this neighborhood .
Churches and Community Center
In the south-western part of the square is the Old Nazareth Church designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel and consecrated in 1835 , one of the four evangelical suburban churches designed by him . In the middle part is the New Nazareth Church, built from 1891 to 1893 according to plans by Max Spitta .
The community garden Himmelbeet is located in Schulstrasse east of the square and a Protestant community center is in Nazarethkirchstrasse west of the square.
Schiller Library
Not far from the southwest corner of the square is the Wedding Town Hall , a job center and the Schiller Library, which was newly built in 2015 .
Health center Leopoldplatz
Between 2005 and 2007, the Leopoldplatz Health Center - a medical center with 60 doctors from 20 different disciplines - was established by expanding an existing old building at 151 Müllerstraße directly on the "Leo".
Bronze sculpture
The bronze sculpture Adorant ( Latin : 'worshiper') stands on a small shell limestone plinth at the corner of Müller and Schulstrasse . This sculpture is a replica of the original from 325 BC. BC, which today - after having stood in Sanssouci Park for a few decades - is owned by the Berlin Museums ( Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation ). The naked youth is shown roughly life-size; due to its location facing away from the square, the sculpture receives little attention.
Traffic situation
On leopoldplatz the lines cross U6 and U9 . In 2007, the Leopoldplatz underground station was extensively modernized and the tracks became quieter. In 2009 handicapped accessible access with lifts was added, so that the station has been barrier-free ever since .
Several bus lines touch the square; There is a convenient connection to Berlin Central Station , as well as several connections to the Reinickendorf district .
use
As part of the redesign of the square, the Knorke drinking room was created in the rooms of the Nazareth community in order to give the scene a protected lounge and to make the square accessible to other user groups. The operators of the drinking room suspended operations after large quantities of heroin were found in the immediate vicinity of the room during a police raid and the community ceased operations.
In August 2006 a private initiative organized the first Weddinger village festival (also known as the Kurort Wedding district festival ) on Leopoldplatz.
Markets
Market days are held regularly in the southern part of Leopoldplatz . These include a flea market on Saturday with around 70 dealers, a market of cultures on Thursday with around 30 dealers and a market with an organic focus on Tuesday and Friday with around 20 dealers. The organizer is always the same company.
Originally a pure organic market took place here, at whose stalls mainly various organic farmers from the Berlin area offered their goods. Around 10 to 15 stands regularly took part in the market. The organic market was the first organic market in Berlin. It was created in October 1991 on the initiative of the Öko-AG , which was founded in the New Nazareth Church after the political change . At first sporadically, later on a regular basis, the market was so successful that the initially voluntary support set up its own business and founded further organic markets based on the Weddinger model at Lausitzer Platz in Kreuzberg , in Zehlendorf and Moabit . The successful organic market at Leopoldplatz also inspired the Green League to set up an organic market on Kollwitzplatz in Prenzlauer Berg . In 2009, however, the founders of the organic market were dismissed by the church. Since then, a larger market operator, who also operates numerous other weekly markets in Berlin, has been holding a market with "quality products with a focus on the organic sector".
Iftar
Since 2012 there has been a public breaking of the fast ( Iftar ) in Ramadan once a year on Leopoldplatz in front of the Nazareth Church . The event is under the patronage of the district mayor and is open to Muslims and those interested in Islam .
See also
Web links
- Leopoldplatz. In: Street name lexicon of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein (near Kaupert )
- Leopoldplatz and description of the sculpture in the district lexicon of the Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein
Individual evidence
- ^ Jahn, Mack & Partner: Preparatory Investigations Berlin Mitte - Müllerstrasse. Draft report , November 2009 p. 35
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k District Office Wedding of Berlin (ed.): Stadtplatz im Wedding . Berlin 1991, p. 42-45 .
- ^ Arousing interest with art and cunning: Clara Grunwald and Montessori pedagogy. At: gerhildkomander.de , accessed on July 14, 2018
- ↑ Well representation at the Senate Department for Urban Development
- ^ Jahn, Mack & Partner: Preparatory Investigations Berlin Mitte - Müllerstrasse. Draft report, November 2009, p. 56
- ↑ CS: Alarm am Leo , corner of Müllerstraße No. 6 September / October 2015
- ↑ The newly designed Leopoldplatz in the Müllerstraße redevelopment area is inaugurated. In: press release. Senate Department for Urban Development and Housing, October 25, 2013, accessed on September 11, 2017 .
- ^ Website on the Medico Health Center at Leopoldplatz, accessed on September 23, 2012
- ↑ CS: Is Leo falling over again? In: Corner of Müllerstrasse No. 2, April 2015
- ^ Ringelpietz at Leopoldplatz . ( Memento of the original from November 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Der Tagesspiegel , 2006
- ↑ BBM GmbH, Berlin Brandenburg farmers' market: Berlin Leopoldplatz flea market - BBM. In: www.bbm-maerkte.de. Retrieved May 26, 2016 .
- ^ BBM GmbH, Berlin Brandenburg Farmer's Market: Market of Cultures. In: www.bbm-maerkte.de. Retrieved May 26, 2016 .
- ^ A b BBM GmbH, Berlin Brandenburg Farmer's Market: Weekly Market Leopoldplatz. In: www.bbm-maerkte.de. Retrieved May 26, 2016 .
- ↑ a b Tobias Reeh: Experience nature and stage space . Universitätsverlag Göttingen, 2008, ISBN 978-3-940344-53-3 , p. 137 ff .
- ↑ Susanne Kallenbach: At the organic market on Leopoldplatz, sunflower bread is the best seller: “It will make me very healthy”. In: Berliner Zeitung . February 16, 1995, accessed May 26, 2016 .
- ↑ Berlin's oldest organic market before the end (Leopoldplatz organic market) | Fördergemeinschaft Ökologischer Landbau e. V. In: www.bio-berlin-brandenburg.de. Retrieved May 26, 2016 .
- ↑ Johannes Ehrmann: Waiting for hunger in Ramadan. In: Der Tagesspiegel , July 12, 2015
Coordinates: 52 ° 32 ′ 47 " N , 13 ° 21 ′ 33" E