Prenzlauer Berg - Definition and Overview

Prenzlauer Berg is a former borough of Berlin situated in the eastern part of the city. In 2001 Prenzlauer Berg was combined with the former boroughs Pankow and Weißensee under the name of Pankow.

After German reunification in 1990 Prenzlauer Berg soon attracted young people with its alternative lifestyle.

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. Envisaged as a working-class district, 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 wealthy residents moving into some areas of the borough.

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 Steinerne Berlin (Berlin of Stone) as described by author Werner Hegemann in 1930.

Berlin Prenzlauer Berg, Kastanienallee

Prenzlauer Berg today

Countless pubs, restaurants, cafes, galleries and little shops create a day- and nightlife atmosphere unrivalled in the rest of Berlin. Kollwitzplatz and Helmholtzplatz with weekly street markets, the former breweries Kulturbrauerei and Pfefferberg and Kastanienallee are the hot spots of interest.

Places of Interest

• Kollwitzplatz and Helmholtzplatz on market days
• Jewish graveyard on Schönhauser Allee where painter Max Liebermann and composer Giacomo Meyerbeer are buried
• Synagogue in Rykestraße
• Gethsemane church, former meeting place of the resistance in the GDR
• Mauerpark (former location of the Berlin wall)

External Links

• Map of Prenzlauer Berg in 1836 [1] (http://www.alt-berlin.info/cgi/stp/lana.pl?nr=18&gr=7&nord=52.533588&ost=13.439250)
• Map of Prenzlauer Berg in 1893 [2] (http://www.alt-berlin.info/cgi/stp/lana.pl?nr=15&gr=7&nord=52.538397&ost=13.416076)
• Map of Prenzlauer Berg in 1961 [3] (http://www.alt-berlin.info/cgi/stp/lana.pl?nr=22&gr=7&nord=52.533455&ost=13.421655)
• Map of Prenzlauer Berg in 1989 [4] (http://www.alt-berlin.info/cgi/stp/lana.pl?nr=7&gr=7&nord=52.532961&ost=13.419507)