Oberbaum and Unterbaum...

Oberbaumbrücke,  by Sarah Jane at Flickr (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Today´s blog should start a little series about the bridges in Berlin.
What first came to my mind was the Oberbaumbrücke and the Glienicker Brücke, both important in Berlin´s history though with a quiet different past. There are actually around 2100 bridges in Berlin and I will just give a personal overview about some of them which I believe are very interesting. I will also recommend visits in some cases :)
By the way, the number of bridges is much higher than i.e. in Venice: There you just find 410 bridges. See the link (in German): http://www.zeit.de/2002/34/200234_stimmts_bruecken.xml

So let´s start with the Oberbaumbrücke (Oberbaum bridge) or, to be more exact, with its related history..
For that I go back to medieval Berlin. Back then the city actually consisted of two originally independent settlements - Berlin and Cölln - which had agreed to unite and to have a common administration together. These two were placed opposite to each other on the banks of the river Spree and were enclosed by a common city wall with water ditches. Probably having been a wooden palisade in the beginning, it was first changed to a stone wall consisting of fieldstones and was reinforced by bricks during the 13. century. There were only two big gaps inside these walls, marked by the river Spree: One at its entry point at the southeast end of the so called Spreeinsel and one at its leaving point in the northwest of the city about where the Rathausbrücke of today is situated*.  Making sure that there was no ship entering or leaving without having paid the tolls, these two places were fortified by oak piles in the river Spree just leaving narrow passages. Each of the two passages could be closed by a tree trunk ( 'tree' equals the German word 'Baum'). This trunk was called 'Oberbaum' ( equals 'upper tree') at the Spree´s entry point and 'Unterbaum' ('lower tree') at its northwestern leaving point. Due to the extension of the city and the construction of the so called 'Zollmauer' (= 'toll wall') from 1735 onwards, the river´s entry point to the city and with it the 'Oberbaum' as well became the area between Schlesisches and Stralauer Tor far more east to the city center and now the location of the Oberbaum Bridge of today. So that´s how the Oberbaumbrücke got its name. 
The first Oberbaum bridge at this place was wooden. Construction for the bridge of today was started in the late 19th century and the magistrate of Berlin and the city council members wanted a representative 'gate' to the city. Furthermore a high line of the Berlin U-Bahn crossing the Spree at this place was supposed to be integrated in the planning. The outcome was a bridge with much reference to the history of Berlin Brandenburg architecture with its two brick towers and an arcade carrying the rails of the train line. This 'water gate' marked by the two towers may also led to the nearby club´s name Watergate which is a famous part of Berlin nightlife. 
But back to the bridge: Being heavily damaged in the Second World War, it was just left as a ruin and marked the border of the two German states until 1990.  
From then on it was reconstructed, the railroad was rebuilt and modern elements were added by architect Santiago Calatrava. Especially in the center of the bridge his new steel structure between the towers, bearing the rails, marks a 'gate' to the city as it once was meant to.

PS: In my opinion it´s an interesting coincidence that Santiago Calatrava renewed the Oberbaumbrücke and additionally built another totally new bridge in the city center quite where the Unterbaum used to be in former times:)

So that was my first blog entry about the bridges in Berlin - I hope u liked it - pls leave your comment respectively like this post, follow the blog publish it on twitter or just take a look again next time..

*Note: I integrated a map on this website now, there you can find all the locations of places and landmarks which are discussed here and a short info about them by clicking on the object symbols... I will add further sites in the future there, according to future posts... enjoy:)

May I introduce myself..

Dear visitors of my blog,

first of all I wish everyone who finds the way to my page to have a good time and to enjoy the stories and comments posted on this site!
Being a Berlin based architect and having a deep passion for this city, I intend to create a web space for interesting stories from its past to the present. 

Let´s start with what the page name 'Under the Linden tree' is about...

Thinking about the concept of the blog, an old song came to my mind, which was part of a compilation a friend gave me some time ago on a tape (that was when tapes were still in common use..). The compilation´s name was 'American war songs' and the song´s name 'I´ve always wanted to dance in Berlin'. The songs were from the times between 1933 and 1947 and were meant to motivate the American GI´s fighting against Nazi Germany and it´s allies. The lyrics are at times serious, often optimistic and even humorous. 
The song I thought of was sung by so called Mr. 'Little Jack Little' and I suppose while producing the song, end of World War II was already close because the Lyrics tell how the singer´s dreaming of marching and flying into Berlin and dancing 'under the Linden tree' soon. So what is the Linden tree in English, it´s limetree. Anyway there are many German words used in those lyrics which show the ironic attitude. I decided not to go for the lime but the Linden tree intending to give my page local and historical identity.
Even back then this kind of tree seemed to be something typical for Berlin: The street 'Unter den Linden' which symbolises the old city center (pls. see picture p.1 below) and unites many important historical sites may be one reason. Moreover we find the Linde very often in the city´s streets - to be exact there were 154.968 Linden trees counted by the city´s council by the end of 2013 (For more information check this link: http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/umwelt/stadtgruen/stadtbaeume/de/daten_fakten/uebersichten/index.shtml). Last but not least such a Linden tree stands right in front of my window as I´m writing this... :) 

Conclusively two more things: 
1. The singer, Mr. Little Jack Little, thought of coming to Berlin as a soldier in order to bring freedom and to demolish the old fascist order. Though I totally agree with his attempt back then, I´m happy that today people stream to Berlin visiting the city for other reasons - namely the quality of life, its rich history and its cultural diversity and community.
2. I´m actually worrying about the Linden population since this summer: As it was the hottest for a long long time especially them started partly to get yellow leafs even in August.. and the residents were asked to give water to the street trees! Hopefully we have just a bit (!) more rain next summer and the Linden turn out to be tough survivors in times of climate change...

P.1: "Lindenallee 1691", later Boulevard "Unter den Linden", painting by Johann Stridbeck the Younger, watercolor 
Source:"Unter den Linden", edited by Birgit Verwiebe. G-und-H-Verlag, Berlin 1997. ISBN 3-951768-09-0