Richard-Wagner-Platz 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 located on the in the
Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a German town law, town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Kingdom ...
district.
History
The original station opened on 14 May 1906 under the name ''Wilhelmplatz'', together with
Deutsche Oper
The Deutsche Oper Berlin is a German opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house (after Munich's) and also home to the Berlin State Ballet.
Since 2004, the De ...
the first of several U-Bahn stations designed by
Alfred Grenander
Alfred Frederik Elias Grenander (26 June 1863 – 14 March 1931) was a Swedish architect, who became one of the most prominent engineers during the first building period of the Berlin U-Bahn network in the early twentieth century.
Biography
Gre ...
.
[J. Meyer-Kronthaler, ''Berlins U-Bahnhöfe'', Berlin: be.bra, 1996] At the time it was the western terminus of the first Berlin U-Bahn line (''Stammstrecke'') after the line's extension from
Knie (today Ernst-Reuter-Platz) to the Charlottenburg town hall. However, further extensions in 1908 branched off at Deutsche Oper straight westwards to ''Reichskanzlerplatz'' (today
Theodor-Heuss-Platz
Theodor-Heuss-Platz (; colloquially called Theo by locals, ) is a large city square in the Westend district of Berlin, Germany. It is named after Theodor Heuss (1884–1963), the first President of Germany after World War II.
Location
The sq ...
) and the affluent
Westend area, so the track to ''Wilhelmplatz'' remained a stub. In 1935 the station was renamed after the composer
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
. It was directly hit during the
Battle of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin, designated as the Berlin Strategic Offensive Operation by the Soviet Union, and also known as the Fall of Berlin, was one of the last major offensives of the European theatre of World War II.
After the Vistula– ...
.
A short-distance train from Deutsche Oper served the station until it was finally closed and demolished in 1970. The new Richard-Wagner-Platz station opened on 28 April 1978 with the extension of the U7 line from
Fehrbelliner Platz. It features several Byzantine style
mosaic
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
s of medieval historic figures, the decoration from a former hotel near
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 ...
that had been demolished in 1975. As the old tunnel has been preserved there is still a direct connection to the at Deutsche Oper, used solely for maintenance purposes. The next station is
Bismarckstraße.
References
External links
U7 (Berlin U-Bahn) stations
Berlin U-Bahn stations located underground
Buildings and structures in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf
Railway stations in Germany opened in 1906
Richard Wagner
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