Spreinsel

In the Middle Ages, a fortress was built in the center of the island, and later the City Palace of the Brandenburg Electors and the kings of Prussia arose in its place. The northern part of the island in the Middle Ages was a marshy meadow, in the XVI century there was an amusement garden called Lustgarten .

Starting from the 19th century, buildings for museums began to be erected in the northern part of Spreinsel.

The southern part of the island until 1709 was considered an independent city of Kölln . Once upon a time there was a fishing village at the southern tip of Spreinsel, and so far the part of Spreinsel south of Gertraudenstrasse ( German Gertraudenstraße ) is called Fisherman's Island ( German Fischerinsel ). Now it is built up with typical panel houses.

In the territory from the Fisherman's Island to the Palace Square during World War II only a few historical monuments survived, including the Church of St. Nicholas (now a museum) and the Maiden Bridge .

In 1950, the ruins left from the palace after the Second World War were blown up, and in its place the Marx and Engels Square (now the Palace Square of Berlin ) was destroyed and the building of the State Council of the GDR (1964) and the Palace of the Republic (1976) were built. Nearby is another attraction of Berlin - the Berlin Cathedral , miraculously avoided serious damage during the war.

After the unification of Germany, the Berlin island of Spreinsel was the subject of heated discussions in the field of preservation of historical monuments, since it is here that the most significant architectural objects of two ideological systems of divided Germany are concentrated.

• Michael S. Falser: Steinbruch, Mythenraum, Geschichtswerkstatt - Die Berliner Spreeinsel und ihr Umfeld nach der deutschen Wiedervereinigung . In: Ders .: “Zwischen Identität und Authentizität. Zur politischen Geschichte der Denkmalpflege in Deutschland. " Thelem Verlag, Dresden 2008 (380 Seiten, ISBN 978-3-939-888-41-3 ), S. 165-295