Minister Gardens
The area between Wilhelmstrasse , Vossstrasse , Ebertstrasse and Pariser Platz in Berlin was originally referred to as the Minister Gardens . The name goes back to the aristocratic palaces built on Wilhelmstrasse in the 18th century, which later housed ministries of Prussia , the German Empire , the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich . These magnificent city palaces included extensive gardens and green spaces, which, however, were never open to the public. Today only the street name "In den Ministergärten" reminds of the original use of the site. The state representations of the federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate , Hesse , Saarland , Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , as well as Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein are located here .
history
Origin and development in the 18th century
The creation of the Ministerial Gardens goes back to Friedrich Wilhelm I, Elector of Brandenburg and King in Prussia . At the beginning of the 18th century, the residential city of Berlin was to be expanded. The Friedrichstadt and Dorotheenstadt districts had reached their limits with their capacities. The expansion was to take place in a southerly direction up to the former excise wall (today: Ebertstraße) and above all to be holistic, harmonious and representative. Planning, execution and financing were initially in the hands of the state. Major Christian Reinhold von Derschau was in charge of the building commission . The royal building director Johann Philipp Gerlach was at his side in an advisory capacity .
From 1731/1732 three large north-south streets dominated, later referred to as Wilhelm-, Friedrich- and Lindenstraße . Then as now they came together in a roundabout (later Belle-Alliance-Platz), today's Mehringplatz . Buildings gradually emerged in the open spaces between the streets. The King gave the area along Wilhelmstrasse between Vossstrasse, Ebertstrasse and Pariser Platz to deserving aristocrats in the court administration and to the military. This gift was not only associated with state financial aid, but also the requirement to create representative city palaces. A clever move by the king, who is always concerned with the consolidation of state finances. The expansion with purely state funds would have cost the public coffers far more than the generous subsidy.
Over time, seven magnificent palaces were built, with gardens and green spaces attached to the rear, initially in the Baroque style and later in the English style. When Frederick II ascended the throne in 1740, he continued his father's construction projects, although military undertakings initially took him heavily. Now officials of the general management and other leading figures of the Prussian state, who were not necessarily aristocrats , increasingly settled in the vicinity of the palace gardens.
Structural change until the middle of the 19th century
As early as the end of the 18th century, a structural change in and around Wilhelmstrasse became apparent. The land prices were horrendous. The maintenance of the stately properties also devoured huge sums of money. Bit by bit, the financially and socially rising bourgeois classes, who benefited from the slow onset of industrialization and outstripped the nobles, at least in terms of capital, acquired property in this district. Civil development emerged, publishers and manufacturers set up their company headquarters along Wilhelmstrasse, Friedrichstrasse and Lindenstrasse. Fearing that the classic, traditional Frederickian character of the area could be lost, the Prussian state also increasingly bought land and buildings, especially the Palais on Wilhelmstrasse, which were used for public purposes. Authorities, i.e. offices and ministries of the still growing Prussian administration, were settled here. In the second half of the 19th century, with the exception of property no. 72, all buildings belonged to the government district of the main Berlin residence. The sophisticated residential area had become the government district. The formerly private gardens of the former aristocratic palaces belonged to the public sector, but remained closed to the public due to their affiliation to official institutions. They were no longer called palace gardens, but soon became ministerial gardens.
With the founding of the empire in 1871, the authorities of the empire and embassies of foreign powers found their place in and around the ministerial gardens. The quarter rose from the political center of Prussia to the political center of the empire. The structure and fabric of the building were not to change until the end of the Weimar Republic .
The ministerial gardens in the "Third Reich"
With the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists on January 30, 1933, a drastic change began for the area around the Minister Gardens. The historically grown existing building fell victim to the monumental architectural planning by Albert Speer . The small-scale development on Vossstrasse bordering the ministerial gardens had to give way to the project of the New Reich Chancellery . In addition, a widespread bunker system was set up under the entire area, which was to make history under the term " Führerbunker ". Towards the end of the war, the Nazi power center became the target of Allied air strikes and Russian troops in the “ Battle for Berlin ”. Nothing remained of the once so magnificent ministerial gardens and buildings but a landscape of ruins. The few woods and bushes that had survived the firestorm fell victim to the need of the freezing Berlin population for warmth in the deprivation of post-war winters.
post war period
With the construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961, the former ministerial gardens regained importance, albeit a tragic one. They were now exactly in the death strip between the front wall, along the old excise wall (Ebertstraße) and the rear wall, along Wilhelmstraße. Wilhelmstrasse itself degenerated into an unpopular border area. All construction activities ceased until the 1980s. Just in time for the 750th anniversary of Berlin in 1987, the GDR leadership, together with the city administration , had made it their task to give the area a new, more pleasant character. A plan for high-quality residential construction and for moving the interior wall to the west was conceived. The political character of Wilhelmstrasse and the surrounding area should finally be history. The building project was not completed until 1990.
Reunion and new beginning
The end of the GDR came faster than the new buildings. Half a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, there were no visible traces of the inner-German border along Ebertstrasse and Wilhelmstrasse. Until the construction site was cleared in 1998, the area of the Ministergärten was fallow, but was used variously, mainly for cultural purposes. The proximity to the parliamentary district and Potsdamer Platz makes this area attractive again today, both economically and politically. The residential complex and the representatives of various federal states (the states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Hesse, Saarland, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, as well as Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein), which found their place here at the beginning of the 21st century, face each other suddenly. Today only the name of the street "In den Ministergärten" reminds of the green spaces from the Frederician to Weimar period.
literature
- Eva Gerlach: The Ministerial Gardens? In: The representation of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the federal level and the European Union. Berlin 2001.
- History of the Ministerial Gardens . In: Diplomatic dispatch , July 2007.
- The ministerial gardens site of German history (information column of the state representations at the beginning of the street)
- Christopher Clark: Prussia. Rise and fall 1600–1947. Munich 2007.
Web links
- State representation of Rhineland-Palatinate
- State representation Saarland
- State Representation Hesse
- State Representation Brandenburg
- State representation Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
- State representation of Lower Saxony
- State representation Schleswig-Holstein
- City Lexicon Berlin
- Senate Department for Urban Development: Model plate: Project addresses
Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 45.6 ″ N , 13 ° 22 ′ 47.6 ″ E