Prenzlauer Berg

Prenzlauer Berg
Quarter of Berlin

Kastanienallee

Coat of arms
Prenzlauer Berg

Coordinates: 52°32′21″N 13°25′27″E / 52.53917°N 13.42417°E / 52.53917; 13.42417Coordinates: 52°32′21″N 13°25′27″E / 52.53917°N 13.42417°E / 52.53917; 13.42417
Country Germany
State Berlin
City Berlin
Borough Pankow
Area
 • Total 11 km2 (4 sq mi)
Population (2009-06-30)
 • Total 140,881
 • Density 13,000/km2 (33,000/sq mi)
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes (nr. 0301) 10405, 10407, 10409, 10435, 10437, 10439, 10119, 10247, 10249
Vehicle registration B

Prenzlauer Berg is a locality of Berlin, forming the southern part of the borough of Pankow.

Until 2001, Prenzlauer Berg was itself a borough of Berlin; in that year it was merged (together with the former borough Weißensee) into the borough of Pankow.

After German reunification in 1990, Prenzlauer Berg became a centre for the more bohemian Berlin youth, while more recently it has experienced gentrification.

Geography

Prenzlauer Berg is a portion of the Pankow district in northeast Berlin. On the west and southwest it borders Mitte, on the south Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, on the east Lichtenberg, and on the north Weißensee and Pankow.

Geologically, the district lies entirely on the Barnim glacial deposit and borders from the southwest (to Mitte) on the Berlin glacier valley, which was formed in the Ice Age.

The highest point of the district is 91 meters above sea level in the northwest of Volkspark Prenzlauer Berg. This hill came into being after World War II, created from one of the debris piles after the gathering of rubble from the city center and the subsequent rebuilding.

Cityscape

Prenzlauer Berg is characterised by old buildings, the majority of which come from the turn of the 20th century (1889 to 1905). Over 80% of all housing in this area was constructed before 1948, with the oldest building still standing being from 1848 at 77 Kastanienallee. In the second World War, relatively few buildings were destroyed in comparison to other areas of the city. The area was neglected in the time of the German Democratic Republic, and the last ruins were cleared away only at the beginning of the 1970s. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and subsequent German Reunification, the dilapidated structures in many areas were rehabilitated, and since the middle of the 1980s empty lots have been closed up.

Today, Prenzlauer Berg forms a nearly homogeneous historic building area. Over 300 buildings remain protected as historic monuments, like the municipal swimming pool at Oderberger Straße and the breweries on Milastraße and Knaackstraße. The central area is characterized by restaurants and bars. The typical Berlin cuisine concentrates especially on Kastanienalle around Kollwitzplatz and Helmholtzplatz. The centre for nightlife is the region around the U-Bahn station Eberswalder Straße at the intersections of Schönhauser Allee, Danziger Straße, Eberswalder Straße, Kastanienallee and Pappelallee. These intersections and the surrounding area are called "Ecke Schönhauser" ("Schönhauser Corner"). This older Berlin appellation was used as the title for the DEFA film from 1957 and thereby became generally known:

Under the U-Bahn arches at Schönhauser Corner, young Germany meets daily. Adults object to the group of adolescents, the beatniks, without asking why they seek their freedom on the streets.
— Berlin – Ecke Schönhauser[1]

With regard to urban planning, the district affords a relatively uniform picture. It is predominantly characterised by five-story, multiple dwelling units in closed blocks. Thanks to the long property lots, the blocks, more often than not, are very large and have abundant backyards, some having a perimeter of more than a kilometre.

Notable buildings are the large churches of the district, of which Gethsemane Church of August Orth at Stargarder Straße (1891–1893) is the best known. Its 66-meter steeple is exceeded by the 79 meters of the steeple of Segenskirche on Schönhauser Allee and the 68-meter steeple of Immanuelkirche on Prenzlauer Allee. Also, the representative school buildings planned by Ludwig Ernst Emil Hoffmann (1852–1932) stand out in the area.

The largest synagogue in Germany is that on Rykestraße. Construction began at the end of 1903 and it was dedicated on 4 September 1904. The building escaped the November pogrom in 1938, for the synagogue was tightly surrounded by residential buildings. The synagogue was desecrated and confiscated in April 1940. In July 1945 it reopened for services, underwent several renovations (1952/1953, 1976, 1987/1988) and on the occasion of its 100th anniversary it was restored to its original splendor. In the Jewish Cemetery on Schönhauser Allee, opened in 1827, there are more than 22,500 graves and 750 family tombs, including the graves of David Friedländer, Max Liebermann, Leopold Ullstein, Ludwig Bamberger, Eduard Lasker and Giacomo Meyerbeer.

The Zeiss-Großplanetarium Berlin

A landmark in Prenzlauer Berg is the former water tower "Thick Hermann" at Rykestraße corner of Knaackstraße from the year 1877, which was the first water tower in Berlin. Another remarkable building is the Zeiss-Großplanetarium on Prenzlauer Allee, opened in 1987.

In the west of the district, north of the Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Sportpark, is Mauerpark. This public green area was left when the area of the primary freight station was seized for the building of the Berlin Wall between Nordkreuz and Bernauer Straße. Thus, for 40 years any other use was prohibited.

History

Prenzlauer Berg was developed during the second half of the 19th century based on an urban planning design from 1862 by James Hobrecht, the so-called Hobrecht-Plan for Berlin. Prenzlauer Berg was part of what became known as the Wilhelmine Ring with a primarily working-class population. After World War II its tenement houses (in German: Mietskasernen) were mainly inhabited by intellectuals, artists, and students in the former German Democratic Republic. Since German reunification, Prenzlauer Berg's urban apartment block structures have, for the most part, been renovated. This and rising property values have led to more affluent residents moving into some areas of the borough.[2]

Older buildings like the water tower, near Kollwitzplatz, or the Prater Beer Garden in Kastanienallee, as well as the old breweries still give an impression of the days when Prenzlauer Berg was part of so-called Steinernes Berlin (Rocky Berlin) as described by author Werner Hegemann in 1930.

Prenzlauer Berg today

Water tower
Age structure (2011) of Berlin (blue) and Prenzlauer Berg (black)

Countless pubs, restaurants, cafés, galleries and little shops create a day and nightlife atmosphere unique from the rest of Berlin. Along with Schöneberg, Neukölln and Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg is a focal point of the Berlin art scene. Along with Friedrichshain, Neukölln and Kreuzberg it is also a popular neighbourhood with the student population; however, in recent years, popularity has caused the rent to rise, resulting in an exodus of students to cheaper neighborhoods. 2007 German journalist Henning Sußebach coined Bionade-Biedermeier, a German neologism combining Bionade, and the word Biedermeier, an era in middle Europe between 1815 and 1848 to describe Prenzlauer Berg.[3] The term is a German equivalent of e.g. LOHAS and Bobo (Bohémiens bourgeoises) and gained some media attention and expanded use since.

Prenzlauer Berg is one of the most popular districts in Berlin, is one of Berlin's prettiest neighbourhoods, still central, yet quieter than Berlin Mitte. Unlike most of Berlin, much of Prenzlauer Berg escaped damage in the second world war and post war redevelopment, and the area is thus still replete with cobble-stoned streets and rows of original ornate buildings from around 1900. Nowadays Prenzlauer Berg offers trendy shopping with many streetstyle fashion designers selling their wares in its boutiques.

Prenzlauer Berg has become famous for being one of the few places in Germany where there has actually been a baby boom in recent years. There is an abundance of playgrounds Helmholtzplatz, Kollwitzplatz, kitas (child daycare centers) and shops selling toys and second hand children's clothing. However, the birthrate is not higher than elsewhere in Germany. Instead, the impression of a high number of children is based on the large percentage of people between 20 and 40 years who are potential parents of young children.

Prenzlauer Berg has recently become a popular area for the current wave of American, Australian and European immigrants into Berlin, many of whom are artists who have moved to Berlin in search of the cheap downtown apartments and studio space which are very hard to find in other capital cities and 'centres for the arts' like New York, London and Paris but which are abundant in Berlin. Conversations in English can often be heard in the street cafes along the Kastanienallee.

Even today many artists choose Prenzlauer Berg as their residence: Olaf Nicolai and Cornelia Schleime, the comic-strip artist Flix, the musician and frontmann of Tocotronic, Dirk von Lowtzow, the singer and songwriter of Rammstein, Till Lindemann, the artist Heike Makatsch, Katharina Wackernagel, David Bennent, Daniel Brühl,August Diehl, Kurt Krömer and Matthias Schweighöfer, the musician and composer Christian Lillinger, the film-maker Tom Tykwer and Andreas Weiß, the playwright René Pollesch, the writer Florian Illies, Wladimir Kaminer Detlef Opitz, the moderators Alfred Biolek, Sarah Kuttner, Sandra Maischberger and Benjamin Tewaag as well as the director Christoph Schlingensief, who died in 2010.

Kollwitzplatz and Helmholtzplatz have weekly street markets, and the former breweries Kulturbrauerei, Pfefferberg and Kastanienallee are the hot spots of interest.

Places of interest

References

  1. ↑ Progress-Filmvertrieb
  2. ↑ Peter Beaumont, "East Berlin fights back against the yuppy invaders: The German capital is divided once again, as residents of the former east are forced from their homes by gentrification," The Guardian (16-01-2011); Retrieved 19 January 2011
  3. ↑ Henning Sußebach (2007-11-07). "Bionade-Biedermeier". Zeit Online (in German). Retrieved 2015-09-26.

External links

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