Platz der Luftbrücke (Berlin U-Bahn)
Encyclopedia
Platz der Luftbrücke is a Berlin U-Bahn
Berlin U-Bahn
The Berlin is a rapid transit railway in Berlin, the capital city of Germany, and is a major part of the public transport system of that city. Opened in 1902, the serves 173 stations spread across ten lines, with a total track length of , about 80% of which is underground...

 station located on the . It is located under Platz der Luftbrücke
Platz der Luftbrücke
Platz der Luftbrücke is a landmarked square and transport node in Berlin, Germany, on the border between the localities of Tempelhof and Kreuzberg. The entrance to the former Tempelhof International Airport is on the square. The buildings around the square are now mostly government agencies, in...

 and the south end of Mehringdamm on the border between Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg, a part of the combined Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte since 2001, is one of the best-known areas of Berlin...

 and Tempelhof
Tempelhof
Tempelhof is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. It is the location of the former Tempelhof Airport, one of the earliest commercial airports in the world. It is now deserted and shows as a blank spot on maps of Berlin. Attempts are being made to save the still-existing...

, near the former Tempelhof International Airport
Tempelhof International Airport
Berlin Tempelhof Airport was an airport in Berlin, Germany, situated in the south-central borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. The airport ceased operating in 2008 in the process of establishing Schönefeld as the sole commercial airport for Berlin....

, and is now named for the square there with its memorial to the victims of the Berlin Airlift.

Station

The station was designed by Alfred Grenander
Alfred Grenander
Alfred Frederik Elias Grenander, , was one of the most prominent architects during the first building period of the Berlin U-Bahn in the first half of the twentieth century....

. For topographic reasons, it lies unusually deep underground and the station was therefore constructed with an unusually high vault and long platform. Grenander made exceptionally expressive use of the play of light and shadow in the vaulting and its supports. It is one of only 2 Berlin U-Bahn stations with no central columns, the other being Märkisches Museum
Märkisches Museum (Berlin U-Bahn)
Märkisches Museum is a Berlin U-Bahn station located on the in the Mitte district. Since 1935 it has been named after the nearby municipal museum of the history of Berlin and the Mark Brandenburg.-History:...

. It is tiled in grey with black accents.

There are 4 entrances, one at the north end on Mehringdamm and 3 on Platz der Luftbrücke.

History

The station opened on 14 February 1926 and was then called Kreuzberg (for the hill which gives the district its name; it is on the edge of the district). Two old wall signs with that name, uncovered in renovation, have been preserved under glass. It was the terminus of Line CII (today U6
U6 (Berlin U-Bahn)
U6 is a 19.9 km-long line on the Berlin U-Bahn with 29 stations. It belongs to the Großprofilnetz, that is larger profile rail vehicles run through its larger tunnels...

) until the opening of Paradestraße station
Paradestraße (Berlin U-Bahn)
Paradestraße is a Berlin U-Bahn station on the line. It was opened in 1927 as Flughafen and at that time provided the world's first direct connection between a metro system and an airport .-History:...

 on 10 September 1927. The latter was originally called Flughafen (Airport). However in 1937 that station received its current name and the Kreuzberg station was renamed Flughafen. It had a direct connection to Tempelhof Airport
Tempelhof International Airport
Berlin Tempelhof Airport was an airport in Berlin, Germany, situated in the south-central borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. The airport ceased operating in 2008 in the process of establishing Schönefeld as the sole commercial airport for Berlin....

, at that time unique in the world; it remained the connection between the airport and the city's public transport system until the airport closed in October 2008.

In 1975, it was renamed a second time, after the square above, West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...

's civil aviation having shifted to Tegel Airport.

The platform was extended in 1971, and in 1990 the station was renovated and re-tiled and a new lift was installed.

External links

  • Map of station and surroundings, Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe
    Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe
    The is the main public transport company of Berlin, the capital city of Germany. It manages the city's U-Bahn underground railway, tram, bus and ferry networks, but not the S-Bahn urban rail system....

    (pdf)
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