Berlin POTSDAMER PLATZ
Like most important buildings and structures in Berlin, the Potsdamer Platz or the Potsdam Square is another example of how Berlin developed and reinvented itself from being a war-stricken city to a modern city bustling with people and commerce.
The Postdamer Platz was once recognized to be the fullest and most active junction in Europe. It was regarded as the chief center for transportation and was known as an area for amusement due to its well known bars, cafes, restaurants, and theatres. As a result of Allied bombings and air raids in 1943, the square was totally destroyed and became desolate. After that, the buildings were destroyed and the area leveled to make way for the Berlin Wall’s construction in 1961. Finally, when the Berlin Wall was destroyed, the area was primed for a major renovation. Considered as the biggest construction site in Europe with a massive 480,000 square metres of land, the Postdamer Platz was renovated by Architects Heinz Himmler and Christoph Sattler by winning the Berlin Senate’s publicly sponsored “Potsdamer and Leipziger Platz Competition for Urban Design Ideas” in 1991.
Using Himmler and Sattler’s master plan, the Berlin Senate divided the area in to four partitions and sold each part to a commercial investor. The four parts went to Daimler-Benz, Sony, Beisheim, and Park Kolonnaden. Daimler-Benz got the biggest of the four parts and had the Italian Architect Renzo Piano design the first building built, the Debis Tower. Sony owned the second largest part and had Helmut Jahn design the Sony Center. It is Sony’s European Headquarters and houses an Imax Theatre and office tower. The third part is known as the Beisheim Center, owned by German Businessman Otto Beisheim, the founder of the diversified retail and wholesale/cash and carry group Metro AG which. Lastly, the fourth part is the Park Kolonnaden which is a complex that is situated at the former site of Haus Vaterland.
The newly developed Potsdamer Platz receives around 70,000 visitors per day and up to a hundred thousand during weekends. Visitors can reach Postdamer Platz through the public transportation system on the U-Bahn and S-Bahn lines. After the construction of magnificent landmark towers, shopping arcades, entertainment centers, underground station, and residential buildings, it is one of the best tourist attractions in Berlin. The important Berlin International Film Festival, considered to be Berlin’s most fashionable yearly event, is held in the area on February of every year. Aside from that, the Arkaden shopping mall, with its length of 180 metres and 133 shops, the four major hotels, and Spielbank Berlin, Europe’s largest Casino, is also found in the square. The downtown area is good for business, for tours, and for residence which makes it once again the most important public square in Germany at the heart of Berlin.
Tourists travelling in Berlin would definitely have the best time in Potsdamer Platz. They can enjoy quality food, drinks, and shopping at famous shopping malls, cafes and restaurants while savoring the architectural beauty of the square’s landmarks and buildings.