Spreebogen
The term Spreebogen is initially used to describe every arch along the Spree . In relation to Berlin , the term is used in five different meanings. He stands for
- the entire meandering section of the river in the Mitte district after the Spreeinsel between the Marschallbrücke in the east and the confluence of the Landwehr Canal in the west (more rarely also: Spreebogen ),
- a single one of these turns, the one between the Reichstag building in the east and the congress hall in the west (as in the adjacent caption),
- the terrain on either side of the entire meandering stretch of river; the northern area belongs to the Moabit district of the Mitte district, the southern to the Tiergarten and Hansaviertel districts of the same district, as well as to the Charlottenburg district of the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district ,
- a part of the site at the riverside loops, namely, the area south of the first meander, the Parliament Building and the Federal Chancellery as prominent buildings,
- the redesign of a historic industrial area , the former Bolle dairy , completed in 1994 , on the north bank of one of the Spree loops (also: Spree-Bogen ).
The following sections deal with the Spreebogen in the sense of the first river bend with the south adjoining area.
location
While the Spree's eponymous arch represents the northern boundary, the area to the south is closed off by the zoo . In 2005, the Spreebogenpark opened in the inner arch segment between the Spree and the Chancellery or Paul-Löbe-Haus, with a promenade on two levels and wide meadows. The park makes a variety of references to German and Berlin history . In the immediate vicinity of the Spreebogen are the main train station on the other bank of the Spree, the Brandenburg Gate and the Soviet Memorial in the Tiergarten .
Building in the Spreebogen
The Reichstag building in the south-east of the Spreebogen serves as the seat of the German Bundestag .
The Republic Square extends in front of the Reichstag building . At its western end is the House of World Cultures in the Congress Hall.
To the north of the Reichstag building and the Platz der Republik is the Federal Band . This ensemble of buildings extends over the Spreebogen on both sides and thus symbolizes a bridge between East and West. The Federal Chancellery and parts of the Bundestag administration have their headquarters here. The buildings of the Bundestag are the Paul-Löbe-Haus , the Jakob-Kaiser-Haus and the Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus .
The building of the Swiss embassy is to the north of the federal belt .
History of the Spreebogen
Before the erection of the Reichstag building , the area of the Spreebogen served, among other things, as a parade ground .
Empire
In the northern Spreebogen was in the Empire the Alsen quarter , an upscale residential area. The Victory Column , which was one segment lower at the time, stood on Königsplatz (today's Republic Square ) .
Weimar Republic
As early as the Weimar Republic there were plans to convert the Spreebogen into a modern government district. However, they were never implemented.
time of the nationalsocialism
After the Reichstag fire in 1933, at the beginning of the National Socialist era, the seat of the Reichstag was relocated to the Kroll Opera House at the other end of the Spreebogen.
For Adolf Hitler's 50th birthday, the victory column was moved to the Großer Stern .
In the Spreebogen, Hitler and his architect Albert Speer wanted the Great Hall of the People and the Führer Palace to be the center of the planned “ World Capital Germania ”.
Post-war period and division of the city
The sector boundary between the British and Soviet sectors ran a few meters behind the rear of the Reichstag building and crossed the Spree in a northerly direction and continued along the east bank, although the river belonged to East Berlin up to the western bank .
After the wall was built
With the construction of the Berlin Wall on August 13, 1961, the direct border between East and West Berlin ran on the eastern edge of the Spreebogen, where it crossed the Spree in the form of a system to control cross-border shipping. The ship traffic controlled there, however, did not consist of excursion ships, but primarily of Polish cargo ships and push convoys with Polish coal for the power stations in West Berlin. The ships were also searched for refugees from the outside underwater. Where the wall behind the Reichstag led into this ship border crossing, there was a plaque on the west bank of the Spree in memory of people who were shot while trying to escape to the west. After the political change , this plaque was moved and is now located between the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate.
Due to its proximity to the wall, the Spreebogen was in a quiet location away from busy streets. The meadow inside, like the zoo, was popular as a recreational area on weekends and, above all, as a barbecue area for Berliners of Turkish origin, and the parking spaces on its edge were used on weekdays as a practice area by driving schools .
The Tempodrom next to the congress hall , a circus tent in which rock concerts were held, was created under the leadership of Nina Hagen, among others, as a cultural consequence of the squatter scene and an institution in Berlin's cultural landscape for decades. It had to give way to the Federal Chancellery and has now been set up in a solid form on the site of the former Anhalter Bahnhof in Kreuzberg .
Association and capital planning in Berlin
Only after the political changes associated fall of the Wall on 9 November 1989 and German reunification on October 3, 1990, the Spreebogen moved from a quiet peripheral location at the best guarded border in the world again in the middle of the center of the now again all-German capital in the heart of Europe .
On October 4, 1990, the first freely elected all-German parliament since 1933 met in the Reichstag building. After the capital city resolution and the associated move of parliament and government from Bonn to Berlin, the Spreebogen was to become the political center of Germany again permanently. The Reichstag building was intended as the seat of the German Bundestag. It was followed by the concealment action by Christo and Jeanne-Claude . On May 23, 1994, the Federal Assembly met for the election of the Federal President in the Reichstag building.
The planning for the new government district was overseen by the Bundestag building commission.
Accident and consequences for safety
On July 22, 2005, a Platzer Kiebitz type ultralight aircraft , which was controlled by a private person , crashed in front of the Reichstag building on the Platz der Republik. The pilot, who came from a suburb of Berlin, was killed. After the investigation was over, the police assumed a suicide .
There were domestic political debates about the security of the government district from terrorist attacks. On August 1, 2005, a circular restricted flight area for flights under visual flight rules (ED-R 146) was established around the center of the Reichstag building with a three nautical mile radius (around 5.5 kilometers). It was also the time still on Potsdamer Platz located balloon forbidden to ascend here; Sightseeing flights with historical aircraft were also not permitted. After protests by the companies concerned, this measure was relaxed for commercial flights after a short time, but remains in force for private pilots.
Debate on redevelopment
In the first half of the 2010s, the number of voices calling for the rebuilding and redesign of the Spreebogen increased. In addition to purely aesthetic aspects, the discussion also revolved around the establishment of a permanent visitor center for the Reichstag building and a citizens' forum , which was originally intended as an element of the federal government. The CDU took up a suggestion by the Berlin architect Bernd Albers, which aimed at a reconstruction of the urban structure before the demolition work during the Nazi era . For this purpose, the Spreebogenpark was to be rebuilt - with the previously isolated Swiss Embassy as part of the new rows of houses - and the Platz der Republik to be redesigned based on the Weimar era. However, the architect decided not to relocate the Victory Column . No information was given about the relocation of other monuments - such as the Bismarck National Monument . At this point in time (2018), these proposals have not progressed beyond the discussion stage.
literature
- Oltmann Reuter: Berlin. The Spreebogen 1994–2001: The structural development in aerial photographs. Lehrter station, government buildings, Pariser Platz . 1st edition. Luftbildverlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-00-008054-6 .
Web links
- Spreebogen StadtPanorama - Interactive panorama, also in large image formats
- Another panorama picture of the Spreebogen
Individual evidence
- ^ NOTAM of August 1, 2005 with maps
- ↑ Flight ban over Berlin city center relaxed ( memento from September 8, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ), pilot and airplane 08/2005
- ↑ The government district is to be squarer . In: Der Tagesspiegel , May 20, 2012; accessed on June 2, 2018.
- ^ Drafts from the Association of German Architects - A Späti for the government district . In: Berliner Zeitung , November 10, 2014; accessed on June 2, 2018.
- ↑ The Spreebogen: Berlin's Beletage . In: Der Tagesspiegel , July 24, 2016, accessed on June 2, 2018.
- ↑ Architects demand: Revitalize the government district! In: Der Tagesspiegel , February 28, 2015; accessed on June 2, 2018.
- ^ Spreebogen in Berlin-Mitte: CDU advocates housing construction at the Chancellery . In: Der Tagesspiegel , July 12, 2016; accessed on June 2, 2018.
Coordinates: 52 ° 31 ′ 23 " N , 13 ° 22 ′ 20" E