Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse
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Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse (usually written Karl-Liebknecht-Straße in Germany) is a street in Berlin, the capital of Germany. It is an eastwards extension of the Unter den Linden, beginning at the Schlossbrücke (Castle Bridge) over the Spree and running north-eastwards through the borough of Mitte until it reaches the corner of Torstrasse at the site of the former Prenzlauer Tor (Prenzlauer Gate), when it becomes Prenzlauer Allee.
The street's original name was Georgen-Strasse. From the 19th century until World War I it was called Kaiser-Wilhelm-Strasse, a name it retained during the Weimar Republic. During the Nazi period it was called Adolf-Hitler-Strasse. In 1945, when the street became part of East Berlin and thus (from 1949) under the control of the German Democratic Republic, it was renamed for Karl Liebknecht, a leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany before World War I and one of the leaders of the unsuccessful Spartacist uprising of 1919.
Prominent buildings along Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse include the Berliner Dom, the Palace of the Republic (now being dismantled), the Marienkirche, one of Berlin's oldest churches, and the new Park Inn Hotel at Alexanderplatz, an area which is being rapidly redeveloped.
