Augustusplatz

The Augustusplatz is a square located at the east end of the city centre of Leipzig, borough Leipzig-Mitte. It is the city's largest square and one of the largest (and, prior to almost all its buildings being destroyed in bombing in the Second World War, the most beautiful) squares in Europe. It is also part of the city's inner-city ring-road and a central hub for its tram network.

History

The history of today's square began in 1785 on a site within the city walls as the Platz vor dem Grimmaischen Tor to designs by the city architect Johann Carl Friedrich Dauthe. It was renamed Augustusplatz in 1839 after Frederick Augustus, the first king of Saxony. In 1928 the social-democratic city government renamed it '' Karl-Marx-Platz'', though this name proved unpopular and was ignored even in newspaper articles and town plans. In 1933 the Nazis renamed it Augustusplatz, then in 1953 it became Karl-Marx-Platz again, and finally in 1990 (on the day of German reunification) it returned to its current name of Augustusplatz.

It is now dominated by the Opernhaus on its northern edge, the Neues Gewandhaus (with the Mendebrunnen) on southern side, and the main buildings of the University of Leipzig, including the City-Hochhaus Leipzig on the western side bordering the city centre. Destruction during the Second World War and the radical city-planning policies of the GDR both mean the Augustusplatz has lost its historical appearance: the now closed Hauptpost, the newly built Radisson SAS Hotel (former names: Hotel Mercure, Interhotel am Ring, Hotel Deutschland) and the university complex are all built mainly of concrete and steel in the style of the 1960s or later. In May 1968, for example, the bomb-damaged Augusteum and the university church that had suffered little damage ( Paulinerkirche) were both dynamited. From 4 September 1989 to 1990, Monday demonstrations took place. From 1996 to 1998 an underground car park was built under the Augustusplatz with many entrances and ventilation shafts leading on to the square, the construction of which proved controversial. The carpark's eight illuminated glass cylinders housing the stairwells have been mocked in particular, being nicknamed "Milchtöpfe" or milk-bottles.

The construction of the university's new main building or Paulinum involved a fierce controversy over the possible reconstruction of the university church between 2002 and 2004 . Although completion of the complex was hoped for in 2009 for the university's 600th anniversary, the university now expects it to be reached in 2013. With its auditorium and the gabled roof it recalls the style of the former Augusteum and the demolished church. The Augustusplatz was mostly redesigned to plans by the architect Erick van Egeraat.

Tram interchange station

Augustusplatz is also the name of a major interchange station in the Leipzig tram network of the Leipzig Transport Company. The interchange station is designed as a crossing stop, with two tracks running in a north-south direction on the inner city ring road (east side of Augustusplatz) and two more in an east-west direction on the middle lane on Augustusplatz (in the relation between Goethestraße and Grimmaischer Steinweg). If the middle lane is closed during events, tram traffic is guaranteed by the fact that the affected lines can turn from the stop on the inner city ring into Grimmaischer Steinweg via a connecting curve.

The trains of lines 8, 10, 11, 14, 16 and N10 stop at the tram stop at the eastern edge (before the crossing) and those of lines 4, 7, 12, 15 and N17 at the tram stop on the central lane. At both stops can stop two trains at the same time in each direction.see also English web page of Leipziger Verkehrsbetriebe (Leipzig Transport Company)
/ref>

Notable Buildings

File:Leipzig Bildermuseum Augustusplatz.jpg, Museum of Fine Arts at Augustusplatz in 1890
File:Leipzig um 1900.jpg, Neues Theater on Augustusplatz, in 1900
File:Opernhaus Leipzig Abend Nacht.jpg, Leipzig Opera today
File:Leipzig - Augustusplatz + Neues Augusteum + Paulinum 06 ies.jpg, The new Augusteum
File:AUGUSTUSPLATZ-014.jpg, The Gewandhaus with the City-Hochhaus Leipzig in the background
File:Leipzig Krochhochhaus Exposure Blending.jpg, Kroch-Hochhaus, Leipzig's first highrise building (build in 1927/28)
File:Leipzig - Augustusplatz + Europahaus 02 ies.jpg, Europahaus
File:Leipzig (5595170433).jpg, Mendebrunnen

Literature

* Thomas Topfstedt, Pit Lehmann (ed.): ''Der Leipziger Augustusplatz. Funktionen und Gestaltwandel eines Großstadtplatzes.'' Leipziger Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 1994, ISBN 3-929031-28-0, in German
* Andrew Demshuk, ''Karl Marx Square. Cultural Barbarism and the People's State in 1968'', Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2017, ISBN 9780190645144, (E-Book)

External links

Augustusplatz at the web page of the city of Leipzig (in English)

References

{{Authority control
Streets in Leipzig
Squares in Leipzig