Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
he Spandauer Vorstadt originated as one of a number of suburbs just beyond
Berlin's walled centre during the seventeenth century, when the population swelled
firstly with persecuted French Huguenots and then with large numbers of persecuted
Eastern European Jews (see box, pp.80-81). Deportation of the Jews under the Nazis
took much of the soul out of the area, which was further decimated during the GDR
era when most surviving businesses shut down. From the 1950s until the
Wende
the
quarter became little more than a network of decrepit prewar streets punctuated by
the occasional slab of GDR-era housing. Few visitors strayed here from Unter den
Linden, and apart from a couple of pockets of restoration the area was allowed to
quietly decay.
Its 1990s resurrection began in earnest around the S-Bahn station and convivial
square of
Hackescher Markt
,
and in the adjacent courtyards of the
Hackesche Höfe
which now provide the district's main focus. he surrounding streets, particularly
Sophienstrasse
, were also attractively restored, but nowhere has the injection of energy
been greater than in the youthful shops peddling cool clothes and shoes just east of
here, where
Rosenthaler Strasse
,
Neue Schönhauser Strasse
and
Münzstrasse
form a
de facto hub for Berlin's indie fashion scene. his zone bleeds into a residential district
that, when known as the
Scheunenviertel
, was Berlin's most squalid and colourful
district - Nazi demolition of this unruly and heavily Jewish enclave removed all
evidence of it, however. he Nazis also left an indelible imprint on the area to the
west - the heart of Berlin's prewar
Jewish district
,
which is
focused around
Grosse
Hamburger Strasse
and the busy
Oranienburger Strasse
. Here the past is as much
recalled by the absence of landmarks as their presence. At least the
Neue Synagoge
has
been restored - as a museum of Jewish culture. Further up Oranienburger Strasse sits
the dank, gra
ti-covered
Tacheles
, an anarchic landmark arts venue that now awaits
demolition. Opposite,
Auguststrasse
is a vital part of Berlin's contemporary art scene.
At its western end, around
Oranienburger Tor
, the Spandauer Vorstadt has less to
offer, though it was once the hub of Berlin's industrial revolution. Almost all points
of interest around here appeal to fans of
theatre
, particularly of
Bertolt Brecht
, whose
house, grave and some of the venues where he worked dot the area. Finally, just
beyond the district's northern fringes are a couple of Berlin's most important sights:
the
Berlin Wall Memorial
, the only place in the city where a section of the Berlin Wall
has been preserved in its entirety - complete with border defences and a “death strip”
between two parallel walls; and a
World War II
bunker
within the Gesundbrunnen
U-Bahn station.
4
S-Bahnhof Hackescher Markt
Running the entire southern length of
Hackescher Markt
is its
S-Bahnhof
, now a
protected building. A nineteenth-century construction whose original red-tile facade
retains the mosaic decorative elements and rounded windows typical of the period, its
architectural features are best appreciated by walking through the station itself and
taking a look at the northern facade. On both sides the renovated arches under the
S-Bahn tracks house trendy restaurants, bars and clothes shops.
Hackesche Höfe
Daily • S-Hackescher Markt
One of the main draws of the Spandauer Vorstadt are the
Hackesche Höfe
, a series of
nine courtyards (
Höfe
) built between 1905 and 1907 to house businesses, flats and
places of entertainment. Restored to their former Art Deco glory, the courtyards now
bustle with crowds visiting the several cafés, stores, galleries, theatres and cinemas
within. he first courtyard, decorated with blue mosaic tiles, is home to the Chamäleon
(see p.222), at the forefront of the revival of the city's interwar cabaret tradition.
