Lichtenberg () is a quarter (''Ortsteil'') of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

in the homonymous

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...

(''Bezirk'') of

Lichtenberg Lichtenberg () is the eleventh borough of Berlin, Germany. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform it absorbed the former borough of Hohenschönhausen. Overview The district contains the Tierpark Berlin in Friedrichsfelde, the larger of Berlin ...

. Until 2001 it was an autonomous district with the localities of

Fennpfuhl Fennpfuhl () is a German locality (''Ortsteil'') in the borough (''Bezirk'') of Lichtenberg, Berlin. With a population of 30,932 (2008) in an area of , it is the second most densely populated locality in Berlin (14,591/km²) after Friedenau. Hi ...

Rummelsburg Rummelsburg () is a subdivision or neighborhood (''Ortsteil'') of the borough (''Bezirk'') of Lichtenberg of the German capital, Berlin. History Rummelsburg was founded in 1669. On 30 January 1889 it became a rural municipality, with the name of ...

Friedrichsfelde Friedrichsfelde () is a German locality (''Ortsteil'') within the borough (''Bezirk'') of Lichtenberg, Berlin. History The locality was first mentioned in a document of 1265 with the name of ''Rosenfelde''. In 1699 it was renamed Friedrichsfelde ...

and Karlshorst.

History

The historic village of Lichtenberg, today also called ''Alt-Lichtenberg'', was founded about 1230, due to the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

colonization of the territory of

Barnim Barnim () is a district in Brandenburg, Germany. It is bounded by (from the east and clockwise) Poland, the district of Märkisch-Oderland, the city state of Berlin and the districts of Oberhavel and Uckermark. History The name "Barnim" emer ...

. The settlement around the

fieldstone church A fieldstone church (german: Feldsteinkirche) is a type of church, built using fieldstone of glacial erratics and glacial rubble. Such cathedrals and monasteries occur mostly in areas where the ice ages have deposited such rock material on the on ...

was first mentioned in a 1288 deed, its estates were acquired by the neighbouring City of Berlin in 1391. ''Alt-Lichtenberg'' suffered severely during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle ...

and remained a small village at the Berlin gates until in the late 18th century

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

noblemen like general Wichard Joachim Heinrich von Möllendorf built their residences here. In 1815 the Lichtenberg estate became a property of the Prussian chancellor Karl August von Hardenberg. The village came to be a residential area and a suburb of Berlin from the mid 19th century on. A new town hall was erected in 1898 and in 1907 Lichtenberg received

town privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

. Originally an independent city, it became part of Berlin in 1920 in the Greater Berlin Act.

Geography

Lichtenberg is located in the middle of its District. It borders with

Friedrichshain Friedrichshain () is a quarter (''Ortsteil'') of the borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg in Berlin, Germany. From its creation in 1920 until 2001, it was a freestanding city borough. Formerly part of East Berlin, it is adjacent to Mitte, Prenzl ...

(in

Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg () is the second borough of Berlin, formed in 2001 by merging the former East Berlin borough of Friedrichshain and the former West Berlin borough of Kreuzberg. The historic Oberbaum Bridge, formerly a Berlin border c ...

Prenzlauer Berg Prenzlauer Berg () is a locality of Berlin, forming the southerly and most urban district of the borough of Pankow. From its founding in 1920 until 2001, Prenzlauer Berg was a district of Berlin in its own right. However, that year it was incor ...

(in

Pankow Pankow () is the most populous and the second-largest borough by area of Berlin. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weißensee; the resulting borough retained the name Pankow. ...

Alt-Hohenschönhausen Alt-Hohenschönhausen (, literally ''Old Hohenschönhausen'') is a quarter (''Ortsteil'') in the borough (''Bezirk'') of Lichtenberg, Berlin. Known also as Hohenschönhausen it was, until 2001, the main and the eponymous locality of the former Ho ...

and

Marzahn Marzahn () is a locality within the borough of Marzahn-Hellersdorf in Berlin. Berlin's 2001 administrative reform led to the former boroughs of Marzahn and Hellersdorf fusing into a single new borough. In the north the Marzahn locality inclu ...

(in

Marzahn-Hellersdorf Marzahn-Hellersdorf () is the tenth borough of Berlin, formed in 2001 by merging the former boroughs of Marzahn and Hellersdorf. Geography It is situated in the northeast of Berlin. Marzahn-Hellersdorf borders to the Berlin boroughs of Lichte ...

). It has an area of .

Transportation

The locality is served by the Berliner S-Bahn lines S5, S7, S75 at its main railway station Berlin Lichtenberg, periodically used as terminal for international trains to eastern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, as for example the "'' Sibirjak''". Lichtenberg station is also a stop on the

U-Bahn Rapid transit in Germany consists of four U-Bahn systems and fourteen S-Bahn systems. The U-Bahn commonly understood to stand for Untergrundbahn (''underground railway'') are conventional rapid transit systems that run mostly underground, while ...

line U5, which in addition serves '' Magdalenenstraße''. Furthermore, the locality is crossed by several lines of the tramway. Berlin's main arterial road to the east, the ''Frankfurter Allee'', part of the Bundesstrasse 1 and 5, runs through Lichtenberg.

Berlin's Asiatown in the East

Lichtenberg is a developing center of Asian culture and dubbed the eastern ''Asiatown'' or Chinatown of Berlin. The ''Dong Xuan Center'' around Herzbergstrasse on former industrial grounds is a development quarter with many different Asian businesses, various shops, food producers and wholesalers/distributors, residential areas and cultural offers.Dong Xuan Berlin Chinatown Lichtenberg
/ref>

Gallery

File:Berlin-Lichtenberg 1800.jpg, The kernel of Lichtenberg Village, about 1800 File:Herzberge Krankenhaus B-Lichtenberg 08-14.jpg, Queen Elizabeth Herzberge Hospital in Lichtenberg File:MfS-Haus1a.jpg, View from south to north to the Normannenstraße, at right the former Stasi building near Ruschestraße File:Mölle Buddy Bär vor Rathaus 2013-11-05 ama fec 6.jpg,

Buddy Bear ''Buddy Bears'' are painted, life-size fiberglass bear sculptures developed by German businesspeople Klaus and Eva Herlitz, in cooperation with sculptor Roman Strobl. They have become a landmark of Berlin and are considered unofficial ambassado ...

in front of the town hall

References

External links

{{Authority control Localities of Berlin