Founded about 1200, the
Nikolaiviertel (Nikolai Quarter) of Altberlin, together with the neighbouring settlement of
CöllnIn the 13th century Cölln was the sister town of Old Berlin , located on the southern Spree Island in the Margraviate of Brandenburg...
, is the reconstructed historical heart of the
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
capital
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...
. It is located in the
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...
district, five minutes away from
Alexanderplatz' is a large public square and transport hub in the Mitte district of Berlin, near the river Spree and the Berliner Dom. Berliners often call it simply Alex, referring to a larger neighborhood stretching from Mollstraße in the northeast to Spandauer Straße and the City Hall in the...
. Situated on the eastern shore of the river
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....
, it is bounded by the streets
Rathausstraße,
Spandauer Straße and
Mühlendamm. The Nikolaikirche (
Saint NicholasSaint Nicholas is the common name for Nicholas of Myra, a saint and Bishop of Myra . Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker...
Church), Berlin's oldest church, lies at the centre of the neighbourhood.
The two settlements of Altberlin as well as Cölln on the other side of the Spree originated along an old trade route, the
Mühlendamm (Mills Dam), a place where the river could be easily crossed.
Founded about 1200, the
Nikolaiviertel (Nikolai Quarter) of Altberlin, together with the neighbouring settlement of
CöllnIn the 13th century Cölln was the sister town of Old Berlin , located on the southern Spree Island in the Margraviate of Brandenburg...
, is the reconstructed historical heart of the
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
capital
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...
. It is located in the
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...
district, five minutes away from
Alexanderplatz' is a large public square and transport hub in the Mitte district of Berlin, near the river Spree and the Berliner Dom. Berliners often call it simply Alex, referring to a larger neighborhood stretching from Mollstraße in the northeast to Spandauer Straße and the City Hall in the...
. Situated on the eastern shore of the river
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....
, it is bounded by the streets
Rathausstraße,
Spandauer Straße and
Mühlendamm. The Nikolaikirche (
Saint NicholasSaint Nicholas is the common name for Nicholas of Myra, a saint and Bishop of Myra . Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nicholas the Wonderworker...
Church), Berlin's oldest church, lies at the centre of the neighbourhood.
The two settlements of Altberlin as well as Cölln on the other side of the Spree originated along an old trade route, the
Mühlendamm (Mills Dam), a place where the river could be easily crossed. The Nikolai Church, originally a late
RomanesqueRomanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe, characterised by semi-circular arches, and evolving into the Gothic style, characterised by pointed arches, beginning in the 12th century...
basilicaThe Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building , usually located in the forum of a Roman town. In Hellenistic cities, public basilicas appeared in the 2nd century BC.Basilicas were also used for religious purposes...
, was erected about 1230. The area around the church with its medieval alleys in the main had been preserved throughout the centuries, until it was destroyed by the 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...]
during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
At Berlin's 750th anniversary in 1987 the house-building was restored in a peculiar mixture of reconstructed historic houses and
concrete slabA Concrete slab is a common structural element of modern buildings. Horizontal slabs of steel reinforced concrete, typically between 10 and 50 centimetres thick, are most often used to construct floors and ceilings, while thinner slabs are also used for exterior paving.In many domestic and...
PlattenbauPlattenbau is the German word for a building whose structure is constructed of large, prefabricated concrete slabs. The word is a compound of Platte and Bau...
blocks, giving the area an unmistakable appearance. Today the small area is famous for its traditional
GermanGerman cuisine is a style of cooking derived from the nation of Germany. It has evolved as a national cuisine through centuries of social and political change with variations from region to region. The southern regions of Germany, Bavaria and Swabia share many dishes. Ingredients and dishes vary...
restaurants and bars.
Places of interest
Beside the Nikolaikirche, the best-known building of the quarter is the
Ephraim-Palais, built in 1766 for
Veitel-Heine EphraimVeitel-Heine Ephraim was Jeweller to the Prussian Court and Mint Master under the Prussian Kings Frederick William I and Frederick the Great....
, the
financierFinancier is a term for a person who handles typically large sums of money, usually involving money lending, financing projects, large-scale investing, or large-scale money management. The term is French, and derives from finance or payment...
of
King Frederick IIFrederick II was a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was Frederick IV of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
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...
. The
RococoRococo is a style of 18th century French art and interior design. Rococo rooms were designed as total works of art with elegant and ornate furniture, small sculptures, ornamental mirrors, and tapestry complementing architecture, reliefs, and wall paintings...
facadeA 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 intersection of
Mühlendamm and
Poststraße became famous as Berlin's "finest corner", until the house was demolished in 1936 for the laying out of the enlarged
Mühlendamm street. Parts of the facade were stored in the western outskirts of Berlin,
West BerlinWest Berlin was the name given to the western part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors established in 1945. It was in many ways integrated with, although legally not a part of, West Germany...
authorities delivered them to the GDR government in 1982 to support the reconstruction. The Palais was rebuilt between 1983 and 1987, about 12 meters away from its original site. Today it serves as a
museumA museum is a building or institution which houses a collection of artifacts.Museums collect and care for objects of scientific, artistic, or historical importance and make them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary...
.
On the other side of the
Poststraße is the
Knoblauchhaus from 1760, with a
neoclassicalNeoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, both as a reaction against the Rococo style of anti-tectonic naturalistic ornament, and an outgrowth of some classicizing features of Late Baroque...
facade from the 19th century. One of the few preserved historic buildings, it was the residence of the notable
KnoblauchKnoblauch also Knobloch, Knoblock, and Knoblaugh , is a German surname meaning garlic. Itmay refer to:-Noble Families:*Knoblauch See the German language entry *Knoblauch zu Hatzbach See the German language entry...
family with members like 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...
Eduard KnoblauchEduard Knoblauch was a German architect.Eduard Knoblauch was born in his family's house on Poststraße 23 in the Nikolaiviertel neighborhood in Berlin, Germany...
or the
physicistA physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
Karl-Hermann KnoblauchKarl Hermann Knoblauch was a prominent German physicist. He was one of the six founding members of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft at Berlin on 14 January 1845. All six were independent-minded students of Gustav Magnus....
. It is home of a
BiedermeierIn Central Europe, Biedermeier refers to work in the fields of literature, music, the visual arts and interior design in the period between the years 1815 , the end of the Napoleonic Wars, and 1848, the year of the European revolutions and contrasts with the Romantic era which preceded it...
museum.
On the banks of the Spree river stands the red
sandstoneSandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains. Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any color, but the most common colors are tan, brown, yellow,...
Kurfürstenhaus (
Prince-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....
's House), erected in 1897 at the site of an older building, where
Elector John Sigismund of BrandenburgJohn Sigismund was a Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg from the House of Hohenzollern. He also served as a Duke of Prussia....
died on December 23, 1619. As he believed a
White LadyA White Lady is a type of female ghost purported to appear in many rural areas, and who is supposed to have died or suffered trauma in life. White Lady legends are found around the world. Common to many of them is the theme of losing or being betrayed by a husband or fiancé. They are often...
haunted the
Stadtschloss (City Palace), he had fled to the home of his
valetValet and Varlet are terms for male servants who serve as personal attendants to their employer. In the Middle Ages, the valet de chambre to a ruler was a prestigious appointment for young men...
.
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...