In the 13th century
Cölln was the sister town of Old
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
(Altberlin), located on the southern
SpreeThe Spree is a river in Saxony, Brandenburg and Berlin, Germany and in Ústí nad Labem Region, Czech Republic. It is a left tributary of the Havel river and is approximately in length....
Island in the
Margraviate of BrandenburgThe Margraviate of Brandenburg was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806. Also known as the March of Brandenburg , it played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe....
. Today the island is located in the historic core of the central
MitteMitte is the first and most central borough of Berlin . Mitte encompasses Berlin's historic core and includes some of the most important tourist sites of Berlin , most of which were in former East Berlin...
locality of modern Berlin, its northern peak is known as
Museum IslandMuseum Island in Berlin, Germany, is the name of the northern half of the Spreeinsel, an island in the Spree river in the centre of Berlin ....
, while the part south of the
Gertraudenstraße street is called Fischer Island.
History
Cölln is first mentioned in a 1237 deed, denoting a
priestThe ministerial orders of the Catholic Church includes the orders of bishops, deacons and presbyters, which in Latin is sacerdos. The ordained priesthood and common priesthood are different in function and essence....
Symeon of Cölln's
Saint PeterSimon Peter , Pétros “Rock”, Kephas in Hellenized Aramaic) was a leader of the early Christian Church, who features prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. Peter was the son of John, and was from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee...
's Church as a witness. This date is commonly regarded as the origin of Berlin, though Altberlin on the eastern bank of the Spree river was not mentioned before 1244 and part of nowadays
Greater BerlinThe Greater Berlin Act , in full the Law Regarding the Reconstruction of the New Local Authority of Berlin , was a law passed by the Prussian government in 1920 that greatly expanded the size of the German capital of Berlin....
like
SpandauSpandau is the fifth and westernmost borough of Berlin, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and along the western bank of the Havel. In the west it borders with the districts of Oberhavel, Havelland and the city of Potsdam in the federal state of Brandenburg. Modern industries...
and
KöpenickKöpenick is a locality in the borough of Treptow-Köpenick in Berlin. It is located in the south-east of the city and is best known for the Hauptmann von Köpenick....
are even older.
Cölln and Altberlin were separated only by the river Spree, linked by the
Mühlendamm causewayIn modern usage, a causeway is a road or railway elevated on a sandbank, usually across a broad body of water or wetland.- Etymology :...
, hence there was a close connection right from the start. Since the
trade routeA trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a single trade route contains long distance arteries which may further be connected to several smaller networks of commercial...
from
MagdeburgMagdeburg , the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, is situated at the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe. Emperor Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor, lived during most of his reign in the town and was buried in the cathedral after his death...
to
Frankfurt (Oder)Frankfurt is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, located on the Oder River, on the German-Polish border directly opposite the town of Słubice which was a part of Frankfurt until 1945. At the end of the 1980s it reached a population peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants...
crosses the twin town and the inland water-transportation routes also passed through it, Cölln-Berlin quickly came to prosperity. A second crossing, the
Lange Brücke (Long Bridge), today the
Rathausbrücke (Town Hall Bridge) was erected across the Spree in 1307 with a common town hall in the middle of it.
The common policy of Berlin and Cölln led 1308 to a first alliance with other towns (
Brandenburg an der HavelBrandenburg an der Havel is a town in the state of Brandenburg, Germany. It is located on the banks of the Havel river. Population: 74,129 ....
,
Frankfurt (Oder)Frankfurt is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, located on the Oder River, on the German-Polish border directly opposite the town of Słubice which was a part of Frankfurt until 1945. At the end of the 1980s it reached a population peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants...
and
SalzwedelSalzwedel Salzwedel Salzwedel of Altmarkkreis Salzwedel, and has a population of approximately 21,500. Salzwedel is located on the German Framework Road.-Geography:Salzwedel...
) in the March to defend their rights against the sovereign. The
ElectorThe Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Holy Roman Emperors....
Frederick II IrontoothFrederick II , nicknamed "the Iron" and sometimes "Irontooth" , was a Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg from 1440 until his abdication in 1470, and was a member of the House of Hohenzollern.- Biography :Frederick II was born in Tangermünde to Frederick I, Brandenburg's first...
of Brandenburg ended the autonomy of Cölln/Berlin and declared the twin town to his residence in 1451. In 1710 the twin cities Cölln and old Berlin merged by the order of
King Frederick IFrederick I , of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia in personal union. The latter function he upgraded to royalty, becoming the first King in Prussia...
to form the capital of
PrussiaThe Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918, until the defeat of Germany in World War I, was the leading state of the German Empire, comprising almost two-thirds of the area of the empire...
. As Altberlin was twice as big as Cölln at that time, the merged city was named Berlin.
The name of Cölln survives in the Berlin southeastern borough of
NeuköllnNeukölln is the eighth borough of Berlin, located in the southeastern part of the city. It features many Gründerzeit buildings and has one of the highest percentage of immigrants in Berlin....
(New Cölln). Originally a southern extension of Cölln was called Neukölln am Wasser, as well as the "Köllnischer Park" and the street "Am Köllnischen Park" are both located in the adjacent area. An outdoor enclosure, situated directly in the park, is home of three brown bears (the bear is the heraldic animal of the City of Berlin), representing the cradle of the city.
Places of interest
Cölln's centre the Saint Peter's Church, originally built about 1230 and reconstructed several times over the centuries, had been badly damaged by air raids and the
Battle of BerlinThe Battle of Berlin was the final major offensive of the European Theatre of World War II and was designated the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union.
[The last offensive of the European war was the Prague Offensive on 6–11 May 1945, when the Red Army, with the help...]
in 1945. It was finally demolished in 1964. The church bore its name due to the fact that many of Cölln's inhabitants depended on
fishingFishing is the activity of catching fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
. Today only the name of the
Petriplatz square marks the site. From here the
Brüderstraße runs north, named after the brothers of a former
DominicanThe Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic in the early 13th century in France...
monastery established in 1297. Though most of the neighbourhood was destroyed, a few
BaroqueBaroque architecture, starting in the early 17th century in Italy, took the humanist Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical, theatrical, sculptural fashion, expressing the triumph of absolutist church and state. New architectural concerns for color, light and...
houses remained:
The bookseller
Christoph Friedrich NicolaiChristoph Friedrich Nicolai was a German writer and bookseller.Nicolai was born in Berlin, where his father, Christoph Gottlieb Nicolai , was the founder of the famous Nicolaische Buchhandlung...
lived on
Brüderstraße 13 from 1787 until his death in 1811. Today the house is still called
Nicolaihaus, it was erected about 1670 and had belonged to the
merchantA merchant is a businessman who trades in commodities that they do not produce themselves, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
Johann Ernst GotzkowskyJohann Ernst Gotzkowsky was a Prussian merchant with asuccessful trade in trinkets, silk, taft and porcelain. Moreover he acted as a diplomat and art dealer...
from 1747 to 1773. Nicolai had it remodeled by the
masonMasonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar; the term masonry can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are brick, stone such as marble, granite, travertine, limestone; concrete block, glass block, and...
and
composerA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
Carl Friedrich ZelterCarl Friedrich Zelter was a German composer, conductor and teacher of music.-Biography:Zelter was born in Berlin. He trained to become a mason like his father, but his musical talent showed through. He studied composition under Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch, joining his Berlin Singakademie in 1791...
, making it a meeting-point of intellectuals influenced by the
Age of EnlightenmentThe Age of Enlightenment, or simply The Enlightenment, is a term used to describe a time in Western philosophy and cultural life, centered upon the eighteenth century, in which reason was advocated as the primary source and legitimacy for authority....
(
Aufklärung) and
RomanticismRomanticism is a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Industrial Revolution...
movement. In 1786
Honoré MirabeauHonoré Gabriel Riqueti, Comte de Mirabeau was a French writer, popular orator and statesman. During the French Revolution, he was a moderate, favoring a constitutional monarchy built on the model of the United Kingdom...
stayed here on his first trip to Berlin and so did the
architectAn architect is trained and licensed in planning and designing buildings, and participates in supervising the construction of a building. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, itself derived from the Greek arkhitekton , i.e. chief builder...
Karl Friedrich SchinkelKarl Friedrich Schinkel was a Prussian architect and painter. Schinkel was one of the most prominent German architects and the best example of neoclassicism....
, the sculptor
Johann Gottfried SchadowJohann Gottfried Schadow was a German sculptor.-Biography:He was born in Berlin, where his father was a poor tailor....
, the printmaker
Daniel ChodowieckiDaniel Niklaus Chodowiecki was a Polish-German painter and printmaker with Huguenot ancestry, who is most famous as an etcher...
as well as the
poetA poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
Theodor KörnerCarl Theodor Körner was a German poet and soldier. He was often called the “German Tyrtaeus.”-Background:...
in 1811. Körner's father
Christian Gottfried KörnerChristian Gottfried Körner was a German jurist and friend of Friedrich Schiller, born at Leipzig. He studied law at Göttingen and Leipzig and in 1783 became chief councilor of the consistory at Dresden, was appointed to the office of judge in the Court of Appeals in 1790, and in 1811 returned to...
lived here as a
PrussiaThe Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918, until the defeat of Germany in World War I, was the leading state of the German Empire, comprising almost two-thirds of the area of the empire...
n
Privy CouncillorA privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation on how to exercise their executive authority, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government...
from 1815 to 1828.
On
Brüderstraße 10 stands the
Galgenhaus (
GallowsA gallows is a frame, typically wooden, used for execution by hanging.A gallows can take several forms.*the simplest form resembles an inverted "L", with a single upright and a horizontal beam to which the rope noose would be attached.*the horizontal crossbeam is supported at both ends.*temporary...
House), built about 1688. According to legend, a
maidA maidservant or in current usage maid is a female employed in domestic service. Once part of an elaborate hierarchy in great houses, today a single maid may be the only domestic worker that upper and even middle-income households can afford, as was always the case for many households...
servant was hanged right in front of the house in 1735, being falsely accused of stealing a silver spoon. From 1742 on the building belonged to the early
statisticianStatistics is a branch of mathematics concerned with collecting and interpreting data. According to other definitions, it is a mathematical science pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation or explanation, and presentation of data. Statisticians improve the quality of data with the...
Johann Peter Süßmilch, at this time
provostA provost is a senior official in a number of Christian churches.-Historical development:The word praepositus was originally applied to any ecclesiastical ruler or dignitary...
of the Saint Peter's Church. The neighbouring building, built in 1905, is home of the Berlin representation of the
Federal StateGermany is a Federal Republic consisting of sixteen states, known in German as . Since is also the German word for "country", the term is commonly used colloquially, as it is more specific, though technically incorrect within the corpus of German law.The citizens of the states form the nation...
of
SaxonyThe Free State of Saxony is a federal state of Germany, located in the southeastern part of present-day Germany. It is the tenth-largest German state in area and the sixth largest in population , of Germany's sixteen states.Long in the heart of German-speaking Europe, Saxony became one of the new...
.
Nearby the
Sperlingsgasse branches off, where the novelist
Wilhelm RaabeWilhelm Raabe , German novelist, whose early works were published under the pseudonym of Jakob Corvinus, was born at Eschershausen ....
lived from 1854 to 1856 and published his popular work
Die Chronik der Sperlingsgasse. The small alley, at this time the
Spreegasse, was renamed in 1931 on occasion of the author's hundredth anniversary. All former buildings on this street were demolished about 1960.
The northern part of the
Brüderstraße today is covered by the 1964 building of the former
StaatsratThe State Council of the German Democratic Republic was officially the highest organ of the German Democratic Republic, and for many years the collective president of the country , which was created by the law concerning the formation of the Council of State dated 12 September 1960 as a follow-up to...
of the
German Democratic RepublicThe German Democratic Republic was a Communist state that originated from the Soviet Zone of occupied Germany and the Soviet sector of occupied Berlin...
. The
façadeA facade or façade is generally one side of the exterior of a building, especially the front, but also sometimes the sides and rear. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
at the
SchloßplatzSchloßplatz is a common name for squares in many German-speaking countries. Cities which have a Schloßplatz include Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart and Dresden....
square includes the preserved
portalPortal is a general term describing an opening in the walls of a building, gate or fortification, and especially a grand entrance to an important structure. Doors, metal gates or portcullis in the opening can be used to control entry or exit. The surface surrounding the opening may be made of...
No. IV of the demolished
HohenzollernThe House of Hohenzollern is a noble family and royal dynasty of electors, kings and emperors of Prussia, Germany and Romania. It originated in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century. They took their name from their ancestral home, the Burg Hohenzollern castle near...
City Palace, where
Karl Liebknechtwas a German socialist and a co-founder of the Spartacist League and the Communist Party of Germany.-Early life:...
on November 9, 1918 declared a free socialist republic of Germany. After
German reunificationGerman reunification is the process in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and Berlin was united into a single city-state. The start of this process is commonly referred to by former citizens of the GDR as die Wende...
the building served as the
ChancelleryThe Chancellor's Office is the office of the Chancellor, the head of the German federal government . The chief of the Chancellery holds the rank of either a state secretary or a federal minister ...
from 1999 to 2001. Today it houses the
European School of Management and TechnologyESMT European School of Management and Technology is a private university located in Berlin, Germany.ESMT European School of Management and Technology is an international management university based in the heart of Europe in Berlin...
and the
Hertie School of GovernanceThe Hertie School of Governance is the leading Public Policy school in Germany, and one of the leading policy institutes in Europe, located in the heart of Berlin, in the historic Quartier 110 in Friedrichstraße...
. The area north of the
Schloßplatz is the site of the historic City Palace and still of the
demolitionDemolition is the tearing-down of buildings and other structures, the opposite of construction. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a building apart while carefully preserving valuable elements for re-use....
of the 1976
Palast der RepublikThe Palace of the Republic was a building in Berlin, on the bank of the River Spree between Schloßplatz and the Lustgarten . It served primarily as the seat of the East German parliament, the Volkskammer, but it also housed two large auditoria, art galleries, a theatre, restaurants and a bowling...
. According to a 2002 resolution by the federal
BundestagThe Bundestag is the parliament of Germany. It was established with Germany's constitution of 1949 and is the successor of the earlier Reichstag...
parliament the City Palace should be rebuilt.
Parallel to the
Brüderstraße runs the
Breite Straße (Broad Street), Cölln's main street. At the corner of the
Schloßplatz are the buildings of the Old and the New
Marstall riding
stableA stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals...
s of the
Electors of Brandenburg, built in 1670 and 1901. Today the New
Marstall is a seat of the
Hanns Eisler ConservatoryThe Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" is a music conservatories in Berlin, Germany. It was established in East Berlin in 1950 as the Deutsche Hochschule für Musik because the older Hochschule für Musik Berlin was in West Berlin...
. On neighbouring
Breite Straße 35 is the late
RenaissanceRenaissance architecture is the architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 17th centuries in different regions of Europe, in which there was a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture.The Renaissance style places...
Ribbeckhaus from 1624, one of Berlin's oldest preserved residential buildings, which since 1920 houses the Central and Regional
LibraryA public library is a library which is accessible by the public and is generally funded from public sources and may be operated by civil servants...
.
Three historic bridges connect Cölln with the 17th century extension of Friedrichswerder on the western bank of the Spree river: the
Schleusenbrücke (Sluice Bridge) at the
Schloßplatz, a
steelSteel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most cost-effective alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
construction erected in 1916, the
Gertraudenbrücke with the statue of Saint
Gertrude of NivellesSaint Gertrude of Nivelles was abbess of the Benedictine monastery of Nivelles, in present-day Belgium.She was a daughter of Pepin I of Landen, and a younger sister of Saint Begga, Abbess of Andenne, Saint Bavo and Grimoald I....
by the sculptor Rudolf Siemering from 1896 and the small
Jungfernbrücke (Virgin's Bridge) built in 1798, Berlin's oldest and the only
bascule bridgeA bascule bridge is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances the span, or "leaf," throughout the entire upward swing in providing clearance for boat traffic. Bascule is a French term for seesaw and balance, and bascule bridges operate along the same principle...
of the city.
See also
- History of Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of reunited Germany. Berlin is a young city by European standards, founded in the 13th century.-Early history:*98 AD: Tacitus described the territory of Germania. What is now Berlin, in ancient times was well outside the frontiers of the Roman Empire. Germanic tribes then...