Das Orakel von Berlin

Mehringplatz

The Mehringplatz was completely destroyed in World War II. In 1947 the “Belle-Alliance-Platz” got renamed to “Mehringplatz” (after the kommunist publicist Franz Mehring).

In the Sixties and Seventies, it was redesigned by Hans Scharoun and Werner Düttmann. However, when the Berlin wall was built in 1961, the square lost its former meaning and lay neglected and cut-off until the fall of the wall in 1989.

Today, after the reunion of the City, the square has reacquired its geographical importance at heart of the new Berlin. However, unlike Leipziger Platz or Pariser Platz little attention has been paid to the Mehringplatz and today´ visitors get quite a different impression.
The peace column and fountain in the centre of the square are the sole reminders of its former glory.

The destruction of Berlin meant that town planners were left with the daunting task of completely redesigning the city. Armed with the idea of creating an innovative traffic solution, it was proposed that the city be linked with four motorway bypasses. The so-called South tangent was to become a six-lane street that would pass by the Mehringplatz Square.

1959 under these difficult criteria, a competition entitled “Hauptstadt Berlin” (Berlin- A Capital City) was launched. Both the East and West of the city were included. The construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 however heralded what seemed to be the definitive separation of the two parts of the city. The Berlin Senat sought out six of the award winners of 1959 for their expertise to rebuild the Mehringplatz Square.

Among them was the architect Hans Scharoun, who won the competition. Scharoun’s plans involved a focus on the historical ciricular form of the Square, as well as his own architectural aspirations, which had not so much in common with the austerity and radicalism of modern architecture, but rather drew their inspiration from the Baroque style.

The area was to become a centre of trade and commerce, a business area in the centre of Berlin, loosely encircled by high rise flats and thus free from crossing traffic. His plans for the AOK administration building, a sixteen-story tower block were completed in 1968.

The language of colour