Stephansplatz (''Stephan Square'') is a square in Neustadt quarter,

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. It is located at the junction of the streets of Dammtordamm,

Esplanade An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cle ...

, Dammtorstraße, and Gorch-Fock-Wall, south of Dammtor area and

Dammtor station Hamburg Dammtor is a railway station for long distance, regional and suburban trains on the Hamburg-Altona link line, located in Central Hamburg, Germany. In front is a bus station of the same name for public transport. The railway station is one ...

. The square is named after German Empire post director

Heinrich von Stephan Ernst Heinrich Wilhelm von Stephan (born Heinrich Stephan, January 7, 1831 – April 8, 1897) was a general post director for the German Empire who reorganized the German postal service. He was integral in the founding of the Universal Postal ...

, who is known for his role in the founding of the

Universal Postal Union The Universal Postal Union (UPU, french: link=no, Union postale universelle), established by the Treaty of Bern of 1874, is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to ...

. The square and a small part of the streets of Dammtordamm and Dammtorstraße had been renamed in the course of the inauguration of the historical building of

Alte Oberpostdirektion Alte is a village and civil parish in the municipality of Loulé, in the Algarve region in the south of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 1,997, in an area of 94.33 km². Situated away from the coast, Alte is known as one of the most typi ...

(Old Hamburg Post Office Administration) at the square.

History

The oldest preserved building is the classicistic corner building Esplanade/Dammtorstraße from 1829. It was already scheduled for demolition, but then protected as a heritage site. The roof section was redesigned. Stephansplatz was renamed in 1887, when the Post Office Administration building was inaugurated. The building was constructed from 1883 to 1887 and was expanded in 1897. The building is listed since 1997. Since 2011, it was gutted and remodeled as a "Work Life Center", and only the facade and the entrance hall were preserved, some other parts were re-built in a similar style. The Museum für Kommunikation Hamburg, which was formerly located within the building, was closed in 2009 and has been liquidated since. At the square, the historical building of

Casino Esplanade A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

, former Hotel Esplanade, built in 1907, is located. Until 2005, a footbridge led from Dammtor area through the building to the shopping street of Colonnaden. In 1922, the first traffic lights of Germany, earlier than at

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

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 ...

, were erected at Stephansplatz.Als dem Verkehr ein Licht aufging
Süddeutsche Zeitung, 5 August 2014, in German The KellJung line of

Hamburg U-Bahn The Hamburg U-Bahn is a rapid transit system serving the cities of Hamburg, Norderstedt and Ahrensburg in Germany. Although referred to by the term U-Bahn (the "U" commonly being understood as standing for "underground"), most of the system's t ...

, later known as U1 line, was built below the square until 1929, when also the Stephansplatz station opened.

References

External links

* Squares in Hamburg Hamburg-Mitte {{Hamburg-geo-stub