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Potsdamer Platz
In recent years the Potsdamer Platz has become a showcase of the new and modern Berlin. Initially this large open space in the centre of the city served as a transportation hub in which several roads met at a major intersection.
Source: pixelio.de Photographer: Matthias Köhler
However at the end of the Second World War a large problem ensued in that the Potsdamer Platz lay directly on the border between the Soviet, the American and the British sectors of Berlin. It could not be decided on who should use this place, upon which it lay unused for many years. The building of the Berlin wall in the early 1960’s also did nothing to improve this situation as it divided the Potsdamer Platz into two parts.
It was only after the fall of the Berlin Wall that new plans were developing according to which, the ‘Platz’ should be a meeting point in the centre of the new and modern Berlin offering numerous shopping facilities and nightlife in addition to housing. The subsequent rebuilding began in 1993 and took more than ten years. During this time the Potsdamer Platz became the biggest building site in the whole of Europe.
Today the central feature of the square - the Sony Centre which officially opened in 2000, represents a building complex consisting of 7 individual buildings built around a large arena. Inside the Sony Centre one can find amongst other things, an IMAX cinema, a Film Museum in addition to several restaurants and bars. A special feature of the square, are the remnants of the former hotel Esplanade which stood at its current spot even before the conversion of the Square. The remnants are from the breakfast room of the Hotel and the so called ‘Emperor’s Hall’. Both of these were incorporated with great effort into the new ambience of the Potsdamer Platz so for instance the former ‘Emperor’s Hall’ is now a restaurant.
Whoever likes to shop will surely spend ample time in the ‘Arcades’ of the Potsdamer Platz. It is a large shopping mall which houses numerous department stores, shops and designer boutiques.
Night owls will also obtain their money’s worth at the Potsdamer Platz. Here one will find both a large casino and a theatre in addition numerous bars and clubs. For those who are no longer permitted to drive a car after a merry evening, can rent a room in one of the many local hotels from right next door in the noble Beisheim Centre.
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