Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Kollwitzplatz and around
One block behind the Rykestrasse synagogue lies
Kollwitzplatz
, a Prenzlauer Berg focal
point and home to the well-regarded
Restauration 1900
, a restaurant established long
before the Wall came down (see p.203). he square is named after artist
Käthe Kollwitz
,
of whom there's an unflattering statue in the little park on the square. From 1891 to
1943 she lived on nearby Kollwitzstrasse (then Weissenburgerstrasse), creating political
and pacifist art that you can see in the Käthe Kollwitz Museum (see p.112).
he streets around Kollwitzplatz were among the first to be gentrified when the
Wall fell in 1989 and today many of its yuppie pioneers have settled and had children,
explaining the overwhelming presence of little ones in the district. It's a lovely place to
come for a stroll - three playgrounds and a leafy park lie within the square and endless
restaurants, cafés and smart boutiques are scattered around its perimeter. Saturdays are
especially popular thanks to the extensive farmers' market that takes over three of its
four streets, offering everything from organic meat and fish, fruit and veg, sweets and
coffee and clothes. A smaller (and less crowded) organic market also takes place on
hursdays. In summer especially the fun carries on till late at night.
Husemannstrasse and around
he street running north from Kollwitzplatz is
Husemannstrasse
, a nineteenth-century
tenement street that was restored to its former glory in late-GDR days and turned into
a kind of living museum in an attempt to recall the grandeur of old Berlin. Since the
Wende
, restoration projects have transformed neighbouring streets too, covering
raddled facades with fresh stucco and installing new wrought-iron balconies. A quiet
stroll north on Husemannstrasse finds its abrupt end at the busy
Danziger Strasse
,
where trams and tra
c and shop fronts fight for space and attention.
8
Kulturbrauerei and around
U-Bahn Eberswalder Strasse
is Prenzlauer Berg's busiest hub; under the station and
the elevated railway tracks along Schönhauser Allee lies the famous
sausage kiosk
Konnopke's
(see p.201). North of the station, Schönhauser Allee assumes its true identity
as Prenzlauer Berg's main drag, an old-fashioned shopping street that, thanks to its
cobbles and narrow shop facades, still retains a vaguely prewar feel. his atmosphere is
also evoked by the
Kulturbrauerei
(Schönhauser Allee 36; entrances on Sredzkistr. and
Danziger Str.;
W
kulturbrauerei-berlin.de), an events centre that all but fills the city block
southeast of the U-Bahn station.
Built as a complex for major local brewer Schultheiss in
the 1890s, it was given the pseudo-Byzantine style that was fashionable at the time. he
entrance, a narrow gateway on Danziger Strasse, quickly widens to reveal a spacious
inner courtyard that often serves as a live-music venue, and is flanked by old workshops
which house a theatre, exhibition spaces, a couple of clubs and bars and a cinema. All of
SUNDAY IN THE MAUERPARK: FLEAMARKETS AND KARAOKE
One of Berlin's best loved flea markets,
Mauerpark Flohmarkt
is a city institution, popular
every Sunday with hungover students, bargain-hunters, families and bemused-looking,
shade-wearing clubbers who come to scan the food stalls, clothes shops and nostalgic junk
that seems to extend forever. The selection is eclectic, to say the least: bikes (freshly stolen and
resprayed), 1950s cutlery, faded jigsaws, new and vintage clothes, GDR memorabilia, banana
telephones and record players, bibles and lots of vinyl and CDs. As with most flea markets,
there's a good amount of junk among some genuine antiques. Adjacent to the market you'll
find the actual
Mauerpark
, a strip of landscaped green that was once the site of a stretch of
Berlin Wall and the associated death strip, loomed over by the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark
and the Max-Schmeling-Halle. When the weather's warm check out the weekly
karaoke
session in the “bearpit”, which attracts massive crowds on Sundays between 1.30pm and 5pm.
