Unspecified/General

Alexanderplatz, a vast public square in the centre of the former East Berlin, is one of the busiest and most recognisable open spaces in the German capital, named after the Russian Tsar Alexander the First, who visited the city in 1805. Long a focus of trade and transport, the square developed over the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries into a bustling commercial hub, immortalised in literature as a symbol of the teeming modern metropolis, before suffering heavy damage in the Second World War. Under the socialist government of East Germany it was rebuilt as a showpiece of the state, cleared and laid out on a monumental scale and surrounded by stark modernist buildings, and it became the symbolic heart of the city, the setting for mass demonstrations including the huge protests that preceded the fall of the Berlin Wall. The square is dominated by several distinctive structures, above all the towering television tower that rises beside it, the tallest building in the country and visible across the city, as well as a landmark world clock showing the time in cities around the globe and a fountain. Today the square is a major transport interchange and shopping district, perpetually busy with commuters, shoppers and visitors, and it serves as a natural orientation point and gathering place. Surrounded by department stores and easily reached by every form of public transport, it is freely accessible at all times and remains a focal point of city life throughout the year across the seasons of the calendar. The square has long been a stage for the dramas of the city's history, from the bustle of the nineteenth-century metropolis captured in the famous novel that bears its name, through the destruction of the war, to the rebuilding under the socialist state that gave it its present monumental form. The towering television tower beside it, raised in the 1960s as a symbol of the technological ambitions of East Germany, has since become an affectionately regarded emblem of the whole city, its observation deck and revolving restaurant offering sweeping views to those who ascend. Around the square cluster department stores, shopping centres and the constant movement of trains, trams and buses, making it one of the principal hubs of the reunified capital. For all the criticism of its stark socialist architecture, the square remains a genuine meeting point, busy at every hour with locals and visitors alike, and it serves newcomers as a convenient landmark from which to begin exploring the historic centre and the districts that surround it.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: Alexanderplatz, Berlin, Germany