All Topics  
Wilhelmplatz

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Wilhelmplatz
 
 
  Topics Wilhelmplatz Topic Home

Wilhelmplatz is a former square in the Mitte
Mitte

Berlin-Mitte or Mitte is the first and most central boroughs and localities of Berlin of Berlin . Mitte encompasses Berlin's historic core....
 district of Berlin
Berlin

Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , 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, and the Netherlands....
 at the corner of Wilhelmstrasse and Voßstraße. The square also gave its name to a Berlin U-Bahn
Berlin U-Bahn

The Berlin is a rapid transit railway in Berlin, Germany, and is a major part of the public transport system of the capital. Opened in 1902, the serves List of Berlin U-Bahn stations spread across nine lines, with a total track length of , about 80% of which is underground....
 station which has since been renamed Mohrenstraße
Mohrenstraße (Berlin U-Bahn)

Mohrenstrasse is an List of Berlin U-Bahn stations in the German capital city of Berlin. It is part of the Berlin U-Bahn and is located on the line in the district of Mitte....
. A number of notable buildings were constructed around the square, including the old Reich Chancellery
Reich Chancellery

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2005-1017-526, Berlin, Reichskanzlei.jpgThe Reich Chancellery was the traditional name of the office of the Germany Chancellor of Germany ....
 (former Palais Schulenburg), the building of the Ministry of Finance and the Kaiserhof grand hotel built in 1875.

The square was originally laid out from 1721 in the course of the Friedrichstadt
Friedrichstadt (Berlin)

Friedrichstadt was an independent suburb of Berlin, and is now a historical neighborhood of the city itself. The neighborhood is named after the Prussian Monarch Frederick I of Prussia....
 extension and obtained the name Wilhelmplatz in 1749, after King Frederick William I of Prussia
Frederick William I of Prussia

Frederick William I of the House of Hohenzollern, was the King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death. He is popularly known as "the Soldier-King" ....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Wilhelmplatz'
Start a new discussion about 'Wilhelmplatz'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Wilhelmplatz is a former square in the Mitte
Mitte

Berlin-Mitte or Mitte is the first and most central boroughs and localities of Berlin of Berlin . Mitte encompasses Berlin's historic core....
 district of Berlin
Berlin

Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
, Germany
Germany

Germany , 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, and the Netherlands....
 at the corner of Wilhelmstrasse and Voßstraße. The square also gave its name to a Berlin U-Bahn
Berlin U-Bahn

The Berlin is a rapid transit railway in Berlin, Germany, and is a major part of the public transport system of the capital. Opened in 1902, the serves List of Berlin U-Bahn stations spread across nine lines, with a total track length of , about 80% of which is underground....
 station which has since been renamed Mohrenstraße
Mohrenstraße (Berlin U-Bahn)

Mohrenstrasse is an List of Berlin U-Bahn stations in the German capital city of Berlin. It is part of the Berlin U-Bahn and is located on the line in the district of Mitte....
. A number of notable buildings were constructed around the square, including the old Reich Chancellery
Reich Chancellery

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2005-1017-526, Berlin, Reichskanzlei.jpgThe Reich Chancellery was the traditional name of the office of the Germany Chancellor of Germany ....
 (former Palais Schulenburg), the building of the Ministry of Finance and the Kaiserhof grand hotel built in 1875.

The square was originally laid out from 1721 in the course of the Friedrichstadt
Friedrichstadt (Berlin)

Friedrichstadt was an independent suburb of Berlin, and is now a historical neighborhood of the city itself. The neighborhood is named after the Prussian Monarch Frederick I of Prussia....
 extension and obtained the name Wilhelmplatz in 1749, after King Frederick William I of Prussia
Frederick William I of Prussia

Frederick William I of the House of Hohenzollern, was the King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death. He is popularly known as "the Soldier-King" ....
. The first building erected was the Ordenspalais
Ordenspalais

File:Rosenberg Ordenspalais 1780.jpgThe Ordenspalais was a city palace at the corner of Wilhelmplatz and Wilhelmstra?e in Berlin-Mitte.From 1737 the building was erected on northern Wilhelmplatz No....
 from 1737, situated at the northern side, serving as the seat of the Order of Saint John (Johanniterorden). Across the Wilhelmstraße on the western side the Palais Schulenburg was built in 1739. After the end of the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War

The Seven Years' War lasted between 1756?1763 and involved all of the major European powers of the period. The war pitted Kingdom of Prussia and Kingdom of Great Britain and a coalition of smaller German states against an alliance consisting of Archduchy of Austria, Early Modern France, Russian Empire, Kingdom of Sweden, and Electorate of Sa...
 the square from 1769 was furnished with marble statues of the commanders Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin
Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin

Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin was a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall, one of the leading commanders under Frederick II of Prussia....
, Hans Karl von Winterfeldt
Hans Karl von Winterfeldt

Hans Karl von Winterfeldt , Prussian general, was born at Vanselow Castle in Pomerania, he was Lord of several estates. His education was imperfect, and in later life he always regretted his want of familiarity with the French language....
, Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz
Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz

Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Seydlitz was a Kingdom of Prussia soldier and one of the greatest Germany cavalry generals.Seydlitz was born in Kalkar, Duchy of Cleves, where his father, a major of Prussian cavalry, was stationed....
 (by Jean-Pierre-Antoine Tassaert
Jean-Pierre-Antoine Tassaert

Jean-Pierre-Antoine Tassaert was a minor sculptor of Flemish people extraction, who worked in the manner of ?tienne Maurice Falconet. He went to Paris as a young man to work in the atelier of Slodtz, a member of a dynasty of designer-sculptors working for the royal account....
, 1781), James Francis Edward Keith and Hans Joachim von Zieten
Hans Joachim von Zieten

Hans Joachim von Zieten , also known as Zieten aus dem Busch, was a cavalry general in the Prussian Army. He served in numerous wars and battles during the reign of Frederick II of Prussia....
 (by Johann Gottfried Schadow
Johann Gottfried Schadow

Johann Gottfried Schadow was a Germany Sculpture....
). In 1857 the statues were replaced with bronze copies made by August Kiss, the originals can be seen at the Bode Museum
Bode Museum

The Bode Museum belongs to the group of museums on Museum Island in Berlin and is a historic preservation building. The museum was designed by architect Ernst von Ihne and completed in 1904....
.

In 1796 Prince Antoni Radziwill
Antoni Radziwill

Prince Antoni Henryk Radziwill was a Polish-Lithuanian and Kingdom of Prussia szlachta, magnate, musician and politician. Initially a hereditary Duke of Nieswiez and Olyka , with time he also became a Reichsf?rst of the Holy Roman Empire....
 had acquired the Palais Schulenburg, it was seized by troops of the French Empire
French Empire

The term French Empire can refer to:* The First French Empire of Napoleon I and II * The Second French Empire of Napoleon III * The French colonial empire of the 17th to 20th centuries...
 in 1806 and temporarily served as the seat of Napoleon
Napoleon I of France

Napoleon Bonaparte later known as Emperor Napoleon I, was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century....
's townmajor. Radziwill held a famous salon
Salon (gathering)

A salon is a gathering of stimulating people of quality under the roof of an inspiring hostess or host, partly to amuse one another and partly to refine their taste and increase their knowledge through conversation and readings, often consciously following Horace definition of the aims of poetry, "either to please or to educate" ....
 here and, as a passionate admirer of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

was a Germans writer and according to George Eliot, "Germany's greatest man of letters? and the last true polymath to walk the earth." Goethe's works span the fields of poetry, drama, literature, theology, philosophy, humanism and science....
, on May 24, 1820 made his home the site of one of the first performances of Faust I. After their wedding in 1811 Achim and Bettina von Arnim
Bettina von Arnim

Bettina Brentano von Arnim , born Elisabeth Catharina Ludovica Magdalena Brentano, was a German writer and novelist.Bettina Brentano was a writer, publisher, composer, singer, visual artist, an illustrator, patron of young talent and a social activist....
 until 1814 lived at the neighbouring Palais Voss. From 1826 the Wilhelmplatz was redesigned by Karl Friedrich Schinkel
Karl Friedrich Schinkel

Karl Friedrich Schinkel was a Germany architect and painter. Schinkel was the most prominent architect of neoclassicism in Prussia.Schinkel was born in Neuruppin in the Margraviate of Brandenburg....
, who also added Schadow's statue of Prince Leopold I of Anhalt-Dessau
Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau

Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau was a German prince member of the House of Ascania and ruler of the Principality of Anhalt-Dessau, also he was a Generalfeldmarschall in the Prussian Army....
, while the Ordenspalais was rebuilt in a Neoclassical
Neoclassical architecture

Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the Neoclassicism 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 Baroque architecture....
 style by Friedrich August Stüler as the residence of Prince Charles of Prussia
Prince Charles of Prussia

Prince Charles of Prussia was born on June 29, 1801 in Charlottenburg. He was the son of Frederick William III of Prussia and Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz....
.

In 1869 the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia was a Germany monarchy from 1701 to 1918 and, from 1871, was the leading state of the German Empire, comprising almost two-thirds of the area of the empire....
 purchased Prince Radziwill's palais on initiative of Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck

Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Sch?nhausen, Duke of Lauenburg, Prince of Bismarck, , was a Kingdom of Prussia and Germany statesman and aristocrat of the 19th century....
. The building was refinanced with the war reparations
War reparations

War reparations refer to the monetary compensation intended to cover damage or injury during a war. Generally, the term war reparations refers to money or goods changing hands, rather than such property transfers as the annexation of land....
 paid by the French Third Republic
French Third Republic

The French Third Republic was the political regime of France between the Second French Empire and the Vichy France. It was a republican parliamentary democracy that was created on 4 September 1870 following the collapse of the Empire of Napoleon III of France in the Franco-Prussian War....
 after the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between Second French Empire and Kingdom of Prussia, while Prussia was backed by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Grand Duchy of Baden, History of W?rttemberg#The Kingdom...
 and inaugurated as the chancellery of the new German Empire
German Empire

The German Empire is the name commonly used in English to describe Germany from the unification of Germany and proclamation of William I, German Emperor as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became Weimar republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of William II, German Emperor ....
 with the 1878 Berlin Congress.

During the Nazi era, the Ordenspalais became the seat of the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1993-020-32A, Berlin, Wilhelmplatz, Propagandaministerium.jpgThe Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda was Nazi Germany's Ministry that enforced Nazi Party Nazism in Germany and regulated its culture and society....
 and Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born Germany politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party....
 commissioned Albert Speer
Albert Speer

Albert Speer was a Germany architect who was, for part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Nazi Germany. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office....
 to construct the new Reich Chancellery
Reich Chancellery

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2005-1017-526, Berlin, Reichskanzlei.jpgThe Reich Chancellery was the traditional name of the office of the Germany Chancellor of Germany ....
 across the square. Buildings around the square were all heavily damaged by bombings in World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
 and were destroyed. On 18 August 1950 Wilhelmplatz was renamed by East Berlin
East Berlin

East Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet Union Allied Occupation Zones in Germany of Berlin that was established in 1945....
 authorities as Thälmannplatz, for Ernst Thälmann
Ernst Thälmann

Ernst Th?lmann was the leader of the Communist Party of Germany during much of the Weimar Republic. He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1933 and held in solitary confinement for eleven years, before being shot in Buchenwald concentration camp on Adolf Hitler's orders in 1944....
. In the 1980s, apartment complexes were built over the square.