The Hansaviertel () is the smallest ''Ortsteil'' (district) of
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
and is between
Großer Tiergarten
The Tiergarten ( en, Animal Garden; formal German name: ( en, Greater Animal Garden)) is Berlin’s most popular inner-city park, located completely in the district of the same name. The park is in size and is among the largest urban garden ...
and the
Spree River
Spree may refer to:
Geography
* Spree (river), river in Germany
Film and television
* ''The Spree'', a 1998 American television film directed by Tommy Lee Wallace
* Spree (film), ''Spree'' (film), a 2020 American film starring Joe Keery
* Spree ( ...
, within the central
Mitte
Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding.
It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreuzb ...
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 Ag ...
of Berlin.
The district was almost completely destroyed during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
but was rebuilt from 1957 to 1961 as a
social housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...
project by international master architects such as
Alvar Aalto
Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (; 3 February 1898 – 11 May 1976) was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware, as well as sculptures and paintings. He never regarded himself as an artist, see ...
,
Egon Eiermann
Egon Eiermann (29 September 1904 – 20 July 1970) was one of Germany's most prominent architects in the second half of the 20th century. He was also a furniture designer. From 1947, he was Professor for architecture at the Technical University ...
,
Walter Gropius
Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in conne ...
,
Oscar Niemeyer
Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho (15 December 1907 – 5 December 2012), known as Oscar Niemeyer (), was a Brazilian architect considered to be one of the key figures in the development of modern architecture. Niemeyer was ...
, and
Sep Ruf
Sep Ruf (full name Franz Joseph Ruf; 9 March 1908, in Munich – 29 July 1982, in Munich) was a German architect and designer strongly associated with the Bauhaus group. He was one of the representatives of modern architecture in Germany af ...
. Called ''
Interbau
Interbau was a housing development, constructed as part of the 1957 International Building Exhibition in the Hansaviertel area of West Berlin. The overall plan was managed by Otto Bartning, and the urban design competition was won by Gerhard Job ...
'', the whole ensemble has two churches (St. Ansgar and
Kaiser-Friedrich-Gedächtniskirche
The Kaiser-Friedrich-Gedächtniskirche ( en, Emperor Frederick Memorial Church) is a German Protestant church owned and used by a congregation within the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia. The church building is sit ...
). It is now protected as a historic monument.
History
The area's streets are named after "Hansa cities"; cities that were part of the
Hanseatic League
The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label=Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German to ...
, a trading network established in the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
. ''Hansaplatz'', the central square, has a small shopping arcade, a library and the
Grips-Theater
The Grips-Theatre in Berlin (official name: GRIPS Theater) is a well-known and well-respected emancipatory children's and youth theatre, located at Altonaer Straße at Hansaplatz in the Hansaviertel in Berlin's Mitte district. It is “the first ...
.
Hansaplatz subway station was built in 1957, though the
U9 line did not open until 1961. Some
Gründerzeit
(; "founders' period") was the economic phase in 19th-century Germany and Austria before the great stock market crash of 1873. In Central Europe, the age of industrialisation had been taking place since the 1840s. That period is not precisely ...
buildings remained north of the
Stadtbahn
' (; German for "city railway"; plural ') is a German word referring to various types of urban rail transport. One type of transport originated in the 19th century, firstly in Berlin and followed by Vienna, where rail routes were created that co ...
railway. Altonaer Straße, named after the
Altona district in Hamburg, leads to the
Victory Column
A victory column, or monumental column or triumphal column, is a monument in the form of a column, erected in memory of a victorious battle, war, or revolution. The column typically stands on a base and is crowned with a victory symbol, such as a ...
.
Bellevue Palace, the residence of the
German president is nearby.
Hansaplatz
Right beside the U-bahn train station is Hansaplatz square. Now an unremarkable traffic junction, this was an active plaza before the war.
References
External links
Localities of Berlin
*Hansaviertel
{{Berlin-geo-stub