Leipziger Platz is an octagonal square in the center 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 ...

. It is located along

Leipziger Straße Leipziger Straße is a major thoroughfare in the central Mitte district of Berlin, capital of Germany. It runs from Leipziger Platz, an octagonal square adjacent to Potsdamer Platz in the west, to Spittelmarkt in the east. Part of the Bundesstr ...

just east of and adjacent to the

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 ...

History

Layout and original architecture

The square with the shape of an octagon, initially also officially called ''Octogon'', was laid out together with the square-shaped

Pariser Platz Pariser Platz ( en, Paris Square) is a square in the historic center of Berlin, Germany, situated by the Brandenburg Gate at the end of the Unter den Linden. The square is named after the French capital of Paris to commemorate the anti-Napoleon ...

(also: Quareé) and the circular ''Belle-Alliance-Platz'' (also: Rondell, since 1947

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. ...

) according to plans by

Philipp Gerlach Johann Philipp Gerlach (24 July 1679 – 17 September 1748) was a Prussian court architect, who built churches and public buildings in and around Berlin. Career Gerlach was born in Spandau. In 1707, he succeeded Martin Grünberg as royal direct ...

in 1734 and increasingly enclosed by representative residential, administrative and commercial buildings. All three squares of the urban ensemble were named in 1814/1815 in memory of the wars of liberation. In 1814, the Octagon was given its name in memory of the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig (Völkerschlacht), aligned with

, which had existed long before. In 1796, the

Academy of Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

held a contest to design a memorial for

Frederick II of Prussia Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...

Friedrich Gilly Friedrich David Gilly (16 February 1772 – 3 August 1800) was a German architect and the son of the architect David Gilly. His works are influenced by revolutionary architecture (''Revolutionsarchitektur''). Born in Altdamm, Pomerania, (today ...

proposed a temple monument to be placed on Leipziger Platz in Berlin for this purpose. The design was never built, but it can be viewed in the

Kupferstichkabinett Berlin The Kupferstichkabinett, or Museum of Prints and Drawings, is a prints museum in Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Berlin State Museums, and is located in the Kulturforum on Potsdamer Platz. It is the largest museum of graphic art in Germany, ...

(Museum of Prints and Drawings). In imperial times (1871-1918), the Prussian Ministry of Agriculture was located on the south side (nos. 6-10), the Prussian Ministry of Trade on the southeast corner, and the Reichsmarineamt (Navy Ministry) on the northeast corner at no. 13. The Mosse Palace extended from Leipziger Platz 15 on the north side to

Voßstraße (also sometimes spelled ''Voss Strasse'' or ''Vossstrasse'' in English); is a street in central Berlin, the capital of Germany. It runs east–west from Ebertstraße to Wilhelmstraße in the borough of Mitte, one street north of Leipziger Stra� ...

. Leipziger Platz 16 was originally built with the Palais Bleichröder. On 27 May 1902, James von Bleichröder transferred the building to the then Kaiserlicher Automobil Club (KAC, today:

Automobilclub von Deutschland The German Motor Sport Federation (german: Deutscher Motor Sport Bund or ''DMSB'', formerly known as or ''ONS'') is Germany's motor racing governing body. It represents Germany at FIA and FIM. The , founded in 1972 by Herbert Linge as , is con ...

, AvD). In November 2011, it became known that the AvD had sold the property on to a real estate investor. On its western side, Leipziger Platz merges into the better-known

. The Zoll- und Akzisemauer (Customs and Acquisition Wall) separated the two squares until it was demolished in 1867, but the Potsdamer Tor remained standing. After 1867, the importance of the area shifted in favour of Potsdamer Platz, which grew into an important traffic hub. Leipziger Platz developed into an important business address in Berlin, partly due to the construction of the Wertheim department stores' at the end of the 19th century. The actual landscaped square area was initially separated from the development by means of a large iron grille against the public footpaths around the square. In 1902, therefore, Berlin's municipal park deputation decided to open up the square and replace the boundary with a low enclosure. The new green space design was entrusted to the horticultural director Hermann Mächtig with the task of giving special protection to the "beautiful hundred-year-old linden trees" in the process.

Since the Second World War

Leipziger Platz was reduced to ruins during the

Second World War 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 ...

and was once part of the

no man's land No man's land is waste or unowned land or an uninhabited or desolate area that may be under dispute between parties who leave it unoccupied out of fear or uncertainty. The term was originally used to define a contested territory or a dump ...

surrounding the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

, but has since been reconstructed in its original configuration, albeit with modern architecture. Prior to the war, the square was home to the Reichsmarineamt (Reich Navy Office, originally on Leipziger Platz 13, moved to No. 17/

No. 20 in the 1900s), the Wertheim flagship department store (numbers 12-13), the Mosse-Palais (headquarters of the German publisher

Hans Lachmann-Mosse Hans (John Rudolf) Lachmann-Mosse, ''till 1911'' Hans Lachmann (August 9, 1885, Berlin - April 18, 1944, Oakland, California, US) was a German publisher, director during the Weimar years of the Rudolf Mosse media empire whose titles included the ' ...

, Leipziger Platz 15), Palast-Hotel (No. 18-19) and the Prussian Ministry of Agriculture (No. 6-9). Today, it is home to the

Canadian Embassy This is a list of diplomatic missions of Canada. Canada has an extensive diplomatic network maintained by Global Affairs Canada. Overview As a Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth country, Canada's diplomatic missions in the capitals of other C ...

. There is also a little piece of the Berlin Wall located in the southern half.

References

External links

Interactive 360° panoramic view of Leipziger Platz 2009
{{Coord, 52.510, N, 13.379, E, display=title, source:dewiki Squares in Berlin Buildings and structures in Mitte