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 tra ...

station located on the in the

Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Prussia, it is best known for Charlottenburg Palace, the ...

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 D ...

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 Gr ...

.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 ...

) and the affluent

Westend Westend may refer to: * Westend (Trevilians, Virginia), an historic house in Virginia listed on the NRHP * Westend (Berlin), a locality of Berlin in Germany * Westend (Frankfurt am Main), a borough of Frankfurt am Main in Germany * Westend, Espoo, ...

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 corn ...

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 {{Berlin-UBahn-stub