Steglitz

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Location of Steglitz within Berlin

The "Steglitzer Kreisel", the building housing the administrative office of Steglitz-Zehlendorf borough.

Steglitz is a neighborhood as well as a former borough in Berlin, the capital of Germany. As part of an administrative reform, Steglitz has been merged with its neighbor Zehlendorf, to form the new borough Steglitz-Zehlendorf. Steglitz comprises the neighborhoods of Lichterfelde, Lankwitz, and Südende, as well as Steglitz proper, for which the borough was named.

Steglitz witnessed the construction of the first paved Prussian country road, in 1792. The borough profited largely from its location on the Imperial Highway No. 1, famous "Reichsstrasse 1", today "Bundesstraße", which follows a trading route that dates back to the Middle Ages. The old Reichsstrasse used to stretch from the far West of Germany through Aachen, Cologne to Berlin and went on Eastwards to end some two hundred miles North-East of Königsberg in East-Prussia. The neighborhood also received an economic boost with the construction of a railroad line in 1838, which ran between Berlin and Potsdam. The Stegliz neighborhood was included in the southern line of Berlin's rail and transit systems from around 1850 (nowadays S-Bahn line 1 and 2 and underground line 9).

The Steglitz area saw considerable change in the second half of the 19th century when luxurious residential areas were developped in the then still independent villages of Lichterfelde and Dahlem. Lichterfelde West and East were developped as so called "Villen Kolonien", settlements entirely made up of mansion houses or villas. Lichterfelde became part of Steglitz around 1900, and Dahlem became part of Zehlendorf, both were included into the city of Greater Belin in 1920 and are today united in the new borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf. Thanks to these and other expensive residential developments Steglitz-Zehlendorf is today the most wealthy of all Berlin Boroughs.

The highest point in Steglitz is a hill called Fichtenberg, 68 m (223 ft) high.

In Steglitz is a big universityhospital wich was build from 1958-1964. The building was build by american and german architects and so the architecture is in some parts typical american. The building is old but impressing.

Steglitz is twinned with Qiryat Bialik in Israel.

[edit] History

1375 - Steglitz is mentioned historically for the first time, in the annals of Karl IV.
1860 - The two Villenkolonies around Lichterfelde are founded by the entrepreneur Johann Von Carstenn.
1872 or 1873 - The settlement of Südende is founded.
1878 - the Prussian Hauptkadettenanstalt / Imperial Cadett School moves to new buildings in Lichterfelde West.
1881 The world's first electrical tram connects the Hauptkadettenanstalt to the Lichterfelde Ost train station.
from 1885 - Otto Lilienthal experiments in Lichterfelde with flight apparatus "heavier than air".
1897 to 1909 - The new Berlin Botanical Garden is constructed in Steglitz.
1901- The Wandervogel youth group is founded in the basement of the Steglitz government house.
1920- Incorporation into Berlin proper.

[edit] Points of interest

The Bierpinsel.

Berlin Botanical Garden and Museum

Gutshaus Steglitz, an architecturally interesting building which houses a music theater, the Schlossparktheater (English: Castle Park Theater). [Gutshaus:[1]]
Schloßstrasse (English: Castle Street), a large shopping area
Steglitz City Hall [Steglitz Rathaus:[2]]
Villenkolonie Lichterfelde West, historical district of 19th century mansion houses and cobbled streets
Federal Institute for Material Research and Testing (German: Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung)
Benjamin Franklin Campus of the Free University of Berlin

[Rosenkranz Basilica:[3],[4]]