Hallesches Tor is a

Berlin U-Bahn The Berlin U-Bahn (; short for , "underground railway") is a rapid transit system in Berlin, the capital and largest city of Germany, and a major part of the city's public transport system. Together with the S-Bahn, a network of suburban train li ...

station in the central

Kreuzberg Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in 1990 it ha ...

quarter, served by lines U1, U3, and U6. It is named after the historic ''Hallsches Tor'' ( Halle Gate) of the

Berlin Customs Wall The Berlin Customs Wall (German: "Berliner Zoll- und Akzisemauer", literally ''Berlin customs and excise wall'' the German term had been originally "Akzisemauer" / excise wall but with the fading knowledge of the term "excise" most references inco ...

, erected in the 18th century.

Overview

The historic gate of the Customs Wall, laid out from 1737 onwards to replace the medieval city fortifications, marked the southern tip of the

Friedrichstadt Friedrichstadt (; da, Frederiksstad) is a town in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the river Eider approx. 12 km south of Husum. History The town was founded in 1621 by Dutch settlers. Du ...

neighbourhood. It was located at the southern end of

Friedrichstraße The Friedrichstraße () (lit. ''Frederick Street'') is a major culture and shopping street in central Berlin, forming the core of the Friedrichstadt neighborhood and giving the name to Berlin Friedrichstraße station. It runs from the northern pa ...

and the ''Rondell'' (renamed '' Belle-Alliance-Platz'' in 1815 and

Mehringplatz Mehringplatz is a round plaza (or circus)A circus is "circular open space at a street junction" at the southern tip of the Friedrichstadt (Berlin), Friedrichstadt Boroughs and neighborhoods of Berlin, neighborhood of Kreuzberg district, Berlin. ...

in 1946). Neighbouring gates were on

Potsdamer Platz Potsdamer Platz (, ''Potsdam Square'') is a public square and traffic intersection in the center of Berlin, Germany, lying about south of the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag (German Parliament Building), and close to the southeast corne ...

in the west and on

Wassertorplatz Wassertorplatz is a neighbourhood in Berlin, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous membe ...

(Water Gate) in the east, where the present course of the U1 viaduct roughly corresponds to the former city wall. South of the gate, a wooden bridge led across the

Landwehr Canal The Landwehr Canal (german: Landwehrkanal), is a canal parallel to the Spree river in Berlin, Germany, built between 1845 and 1850 to plans by Peter Joseph Lenné. It connects the upper part of the Spree at the eastern harbour () in Friedri ...

; from here the road ran via

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. The former airport and surroundings are now a park called ...

to the city of Halle, part of

Brandenburg-Prussia Brandenburg-Prussia (german: Brandenburg-Preußen; ) is the historiographic denomination for the early modern realm of the Brandenburgian Hohenzollerns between 1618 and 1701. Based in the Electorate of Brandenburg, the main branch of the Hohenz ...

since 1680. The present-day stone bridge was built between 1874 and 1876. Hallesches Tor, 1901

The U1 and U3 platforms, on an

elevated railway An elevated railway or elevated train (also known as an el train for short) is a rapid transit railway with the tracks above street level on a viaduct or other elevated structure (usually constructed from steel, cast iron, concrete, or bricks ...

at the northern banks of the Landwehr Canal, opened on 18 February 1902 with Berlin's first U-Bahn line ('' Stammstrecke'') from Stralauer Tor to

. The underground U6 (then ''Linie C'') platform was finished on 30 January 1923, linked by a pedestrian tunnel. Even today, changing from one platform to the other is (for Berlin) quite a long distance.J. Meyer-Kronthaler: Berlins U-Bahnhöfe. be.bra Verlag (1996) The station was severely damaged by the

bombing of Berlin in World War II A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanic ...

; both parts of the station had to be shut down due to numerous bombing hits and electricity shortage in April 1945. U-Bahn service at the underground platform already resumed on 4 July 1945; a provisional upper platform opened in October. The viaduct was rebuilt by 1949, and the lower platform was elongated and refurbished in 1976. The

Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek The Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek (AGB; en, America Memorial Library) is one of the largest public libraries in Berlin, Germany. It was co-financed by a donation from the United States. The building was designed by American and German architects, inc ...

on Blücherplatz and the

Jewish Museum Berlin The Jewish Museum Berlin (''Jüdisches Museum Berlin'') was opened in 2001 and is the largest Jewish museum in Europe. On of floor space, the museum presents the history of Jews in Germany from the Middle Ages to the present day, with new focuses ...

with its 1999 extension designed by

Daniel Libeskind Daniel Libeskind (born May 12, 1946) is a Polish–American architect, artist, professor and set designer. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect. He is known for the design a ...

are nearby.

Gallery

Berlin - U-Bahnhof Hallesches Tor (8195158772).jpg, U1/U3 platforms UBahnhofHalleschestor.JPG, U6 platform

References

External links

{{BU-BahnStations U1 (Berlin U-Bahn) stations U3 (Berlin U-Bahn) stations U6 (Berlin U-Bahn) stations Berlin U-Bahn stations located underground Berlin U-Bahn stations located above ground Buildings and structures in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Railway stations in Germany opened in 1902