The Hansaviertel is a small locality (the smallest one between the 95 Berliner Ortsteile) between Großer Tiergarten

Großer Tiergarten

The Großer Tiergarten, simply known as Tiergarten, is an urban public park of Germany located in the middle of Berlin, completely in the homonymous locality...

 park and the Spree

Spree

The Spree is a river that flows through the Saxony, Brandenburg and Berlin states of Germany, and in the Ústí nad Labem region of the Czech Republic...

 river within the central Mitte

Mitte

Mitte is the first and most central borough of Berlin. It was created in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform by the merger of the former districts of Mitte proper, Tiergarten and Wedding; the resulting borough retained the name Mitte. It is one of the two boroughs which comprises former West and...

 borough of Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. It was almost completely destroyed during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, but was rebuilt from 1957 to 1961 as a housing estate

Housing estate

A housing estate is a group of buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Accordingly, a housing estate is usually built by a single contractor, with only a few styles of house or building design, so they tend to be uniform in appearance...

 project of international master architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

s like Alvar Aalto

Alvar Aalto

Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware...

, Egon Eiermann

Egon Eiermann

Egon Eiermann was one of Germany's most prominent architects in the second half of the 20th century....

, Walter Gropius

Walter Gropius

Walter Adolph Georg Gropius was a German architect and founder of the Bauhaus School who, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, is widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture....

, Oscar Niemeyer

Oscar Niemeyer

Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho is a Brazilian architect specializing in international modern architecture...

 etc., called Interbau

Interbau

Interbau was a housing development, constructed as part of the 1957 International Building Exhibition in the Hansaviertel area of West Berlin....

. The whole ensemble, including two churches (St. Ansgar and Kaiser-Friedrich-Gedächtniskirche

Kaiser-Friedrich-Gedächtniskirche

The Kaiser-Friedrich-Gedächtniskirche is a German Protestant church owned and used by a congregation within the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia. The church building is situated in Händelallee in Hansaviertel near Großer Tiergarten...

), is now protected as a historic monument.

History

The quarter received its name for its streets named after Hansa

Hanseatic League

The Hanseatic League was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe...

 cities, with the Hansaplatz in the centre. This square contains a small shopping

Shopping

Shopping is the examining of goods or services from retailers with the intent to purchase at that time. Shopping is an activity of selection and/or purchase. In some contexts it is considered a leisure activity as well as an economic one....

 arcade, a library

Library

In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...

 and the Grips-Theater

Grips-Theater

The Grips-Theater in Berlin, Germany is a well-known and well-respected theater for children and youth located at the Hansaplatz. There originated the popular "Linie 1" musical, the title referring to a subway line running through Berlin.-External links:...

. The Hansaplatz subway station

Hansaplatz (Berlin U-Bahn)

Hansaplatz is a Berlin U-Bahn station located on the in the Hansaviertel district. It opened on 28 August 1961 with the first section of the new line running south-north from Spichernstraße to Leopoldplatz. The station itself had been erected as early as 1957 in the course of the Interbau housing...

 was already built in 1957, though the U9

U9 (Berlin U-Bahn)

U9 is a line on the Berlin U-Bahn. The line was opened on 28 August 1961 as Line G.-References:...

 line did not open before 1961. Some Gründerzeit

Gründerzeit

' refers to the economic phase in 19th century Germany and Austria before the great stock market crash of 1873. At this time in Central Europe the age of industrialisation was taking place, whose beginnings were found in the 1840s...

 buildings remained north of the Stadtbahn railway. The Altonaer Straße, named after Altona

Altona, Hamburg

Altona is the westernmost urban borough of the German city state of Hamburg, on the right bank of the Elbe river. From 1640 to 1864 Altona was under the administration of the Danish monarchy. Altona was an independent city until 1937...

, leads to the Victory Column

Berlin Victory Column

The Victory Column is a monument in Berlin, Germany. Designed by Heinrich Strack after 1864 to commemorate the Prussian victory in the Danish-Prussian War, by the time it was inaugurated on 2 September 1873, Prussia had also defeated Austria in the Austro-Prussian War and France in the...

. Schloss Bellevue

Schloss Bellevue

Schloss Bellevue is the official residence of the President of Germany since 1994. The palace in the central Tiergarten district of Berlin is situated on the northern edge of the Großer Tiergarten park, on the banks of the Spree river, near the Berlin Victory Column...

, the residence of the German President

President of Germany

The President of the Federal Republic of Germany is the country's head of state. His official title in German is Bundespräsident . Germany has a parliamentary system of government and so the position of President is largely ceremonial...

 is nearby.

Hansaplatz

Right besides the U-bahn train station is Hansaplatz square. Now a non-discernible traffic junction, this was an active plaza before the war. Led by Kolleg X students from the Bauhaus

Bauhaus

', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...

 in Dessau

Dessau

Dessau is a town in Germany on the junction of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it is part of the merged town Dessau-Roßlau. Population of Dessau proper: 77,973 .-Geography:...

, there is an active movement to reclaim this Plaza as a community space and share it with the cars and bicycles that currently dominate.

External links