Platz der Luftbrücke 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 . It is located under

Platz der Luftbrücke Platz der Luftbrücke is a landmarked Mehringdamm The Mehringdamm is a street in southern Kreuzberg, Berlin. In the north it starts at Mehringbrücke and ends - with its southernmost houses already belonging to Tempelhof locality - on Platz der Luftbrücke. It is the historical southbound Berlin-H ...

on the border between

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 ...

and

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 ...

, near the former

Tempelhof International Airport Berlin Tempelhof Airport (german: Flughafen Berlin-Tempelhof) was one of the first airports in Berlin, Germany. Situated in the south-central Berlin borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg, the airport ceased operating in 2008 amid controversy, leav ...

, and is now named for the square there with its memorial to the victims of the

Berlin Airlift The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road ...

Station

The station was 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 ...

. For topographic reasons, it lies unusually deep underground and the station was therefore constructed with an unusually high vault and long platform. Grenander made exceptionally expressive use of the play of light and shadow in the vaulting and its supports. It is one of only 2 Berlin U-Bahn stations with no central columns, the other being

Märkisches Museum The Märkisches Museum ( Marcher Museum; originally Märkisches Provinzial-Museum, i.e. Museum of the Province of the March f Brandenburg is a museum in Mitte, Berlin. Founded in 1874 as the museum of the city of Berlin and its political regi ...

. It is tiled in grey with black accents.Der Tempelhofer Abzweig der Nord-Süd-Bahn
, Berliner Untergrundbahn.de There are four entrances, one at the north end on Mehringdamm and three on Platz der Luftbrücke.

History

The station opened on 14 February 1926 and was then called Kreuzberg (after the

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct Summit (topography), summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally con ...

which gives the district its name; it is on the edge of the district). Two old wall signs with that name, uncovered in renovation, have been preserved under glass. It was the terminus of Line CII (today U6) until the opening of Paradestraße station on 10 September 1927. The latter was originally called Flughafen (Airport). However, in 1937 that station received its current name and the Kreuzberg station was renamed Flughafen. It had a direct connection to

Tempelhof Airport Berlin Tempelhof Airport (german: Flughafen Berlin-Tempelhof) was one of the first airports in Berlin, Germany. Situated in the south-central Berlin borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg, the airport ceased operating in 2008 amid controversy, leav ...

, at that time unique in the world; it remained the connection between the airport and the city's public transport system until the airport closed in October 2008. In 1975, it was renamed a second time, after the square above,

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

's civil aviation having shifted to

Tegel Airport Berlin Tegel "Otto Lilienthal" Airport (german: link=no, Flughafen Berlin-Tegel „Otto Lilienthal“) was the primary international airport of Berlin, the federal capital of Germany. The airport was named after aviation pioneer Otto Lilientha ...

. The platform was extended in 1971, and in 1990 the station was renovated and re-tiled and a new lift was installed. In May 2020 extensive renovations began to provide step-free access to the platforms from the street, as part of wider landscaping improvements in the area. The first phase - involving platform renovations is due to be completed in 2021.Bauarbeiten am U-Bahnhof Platz der Luftbrücke beginnen
Berlin.de, 11 May 2020, retrieved 18 April 2022

References

External links

Map of station and surroundings

Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe The (German: 'Berlin Transport Company') is the main public transport company of Berlin, the capital city of Germany. It manages the city's underground railway, tram, bus, replacement services (, EV) and ferry networks, but not the urban ra ...

(pdf) {{DEFAULTSORT:Platz der Luftbrucke (Berlin U-Bahn) U6 (Berlin U-Bahn) stations Berlin U-Bahn stations located underground Buildings and structures in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Buildings and structures in Tempelhof-Schöneberg Railway stations in Germany opened in 1926