Berlin Customs Wall around 1855
The
Berlin Customs Wall
(German: "Berliner Zoll- und Akzisemauer", literally
Berlin customs and
excise
wall
[1]
) was a ring wall around the historic city of
Berlin
, between 1737 and 1860; the wall itself had no defence function but was used to facilitate the levying of taxes on the import and export of goods (
tariffs
) which was the primary income of many cities at the time.
History
[
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]
The wall was erected after the old
Berlin Fortress
was demolished in 1734; the walls of the latter had already started to crumble and its military function was questionable.
Frederick William I of Prussia
ordered the construction of
stockades
around the city which were completed in 1737 ? the new ring fence incorporated the existing northern "palisade line" built in 1705. The location of this oldest stockade is recalled today by the street name "
Linienstraße
" (line street). Few parts of this original customs wall were stone-built.
The original customs wall had 14
city gates
which were mostly named after the city to which the ensuing road led. Additionally, the river Spree was blocked with customs gates called "Oberbaum" (upper beam) and "Unterbaum" (lower beam) after the heavy tree trunks, covered in metal spikes, that were used as booms to block the river at night to prevent smuggling. The new wall engirded not only the city of Berlin and its suburbs but also some rural land in the east and south.
Wall monument made from excavated stones
With the growth of Berlin, the stockades and gates were moved as dictated by circumstances during the following decades. Between 1786 and 1802 the wooden stockades were replaced by stone walls at a height of 4 metres (10'). Also, various gates were rebuilt in an imposing style, one notable example being the
Brandenburg Gate
. In the middle of the century more gates were added to meet the increased transport requirements ? these included New Gate (1832), Anhalt Gate (1839/1840), Kopenick Gate (1842) and Water Gate (1848).
The middle of the century was marked by new railway lines terminating in stations built in front of the wall usually near one of its gates. This was the case with
Potsdam Station
(1841),
Anhalt Station
(1842),
Stettin Station
(1842),
Hamburg Station
(1846) ? only
Frankfurt Station
(1842) was built just inside the ring wall. An interconnecting railway line, the ("Berliner Verbindungsbahn") for goods and military transport, was built in 1851 linking the terminal stations and thus turning Berlin into a central transport hub for Prussia and the
German Customs Union
.
With the rise of Berlin, new suburbs were built outside the Customs Wall, which increasingly became a hindrance to the continued development of the city. In 1860 the Customs Wall was removed and on 1 January 1861 Berlin amalgamated its suburbs resulting in a doubling of the city's population. The remaining walls were demolished for the most part between 1867 and 1870 ? including most of the gates. Only the Brandenburg Gate remains today.
With the old walls out of the way, the city developed quickly almost doubling in population over the following decade. The interconnecting railway line (on the southern and western sides) was replaced by the
circle line railway
in 1871, and the existing railway track was then used by
horsecar
lines. The route of the southern lines was used for the first electric metro line in 1900, which is now the
U1 (Berlin U-Bahn)
. Its metro stations Silesian Gate (
Schlesisches Tor
), Cottbus Gate (
Kottbusser Tor
), Halle Gate (
Hallesches Tor
), and former Stralau Gate (
Stralauer Tor
) are a reminder of its heritage. The following streets follow the original route of the customs wall: Stresemannstraße (former
Koniggratzer Straße
), Marchlewskistraße, Friedenstraße,
Prenzlauer Berg
avenue, part of
Prenzlauer Allee
, Torstraße, Hannoversche Straße,
Charitestra
ße, part of
Reinhardtstraße
, and
Ebertstraße
.
Gates
[
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]
The eighteen city gates and two river gates are still visible on the map, their names having been given to squares and streets. In clockwise order these are:
- Brandenburg Gate
(Brandenburger Tor at
Pariser Platz
/
Unter den Linden
), the only city gate left.
- Unterbaum (near
Unterbaumstraße
).
- New Gate (
Neues Tor
at today's "Platz vor dem Neuen Tor", design by
Karl Friedrich Schinkel
).
- Oranienburg
Gate (
Oranienburger Tor
at
Torstraße
/
Friedrichstraße
) ? the original gate was sold to
Groß Behnitz
- Hamburg
Gate (
Hamburger Tor
at Torstraße /Kleine Hamburger Straße).
- Rosenthal
Gate (
Rosenthaler Tor
at Torstraße /
Rosenthaler Straße
near
Rosenthaler Platz
).
- Schonhausen
Gate (
Schonhauser Tor
at Torstraße /
Schonhauser Allee
).
- Prenzlau
Gate (
Prenzlauer Tor
at Torstraße /
Prenzlauer Allee
).
- Bernau
Gate (
Bernauer Tor
, since 1809 "Konigstor", at
Greifswalder Straße
/Am Friedrichshain)
- Landsberg
Gate (
Landsberger Tor
at
Landsberger Allee
/
Friedenstraße
).
- Frankfurt
Gate (
Frankfurter Tor
, west of the current location somewhere near
U-Bahnhof Weberwiese
).
- Stralau
Gate (
Stralauer Tor
, earlier named "Muhlentor" / Mills Gate) (
Warschauer Straße
/
Stralauer Allee
/
Muhlenstraße
).
- Oberbaum (
Oberbaumbrucke
).
- Silesian
Gate (
Schlesisches Tor
, earlier "Wendentor" /
Wends
Gate) (
Skalitzer Straße
/
Schlesische Straße
am
U-Bahnhof Schlesisches Tor
).
- Kopenick
Gate (
Kopenicker Tor
at
Lausitzer Platz
).
- Cottbus
Gate (
Kottbusser Tor
at Skalitzer Straße /Kottbusser Straße near
U-Bahnhof Kottbusser Tor
).
- Water Gate (
Wassertor
on today's Wassertorplatz): named the crossing point of the new Luisenstadt canal.
- Halle
Gate (
Hallesches Tor
at Hallesches Ufer /
Mehringplatz
near
U-Bahnhof Hallesches Tor
), After the original gate was dismantled, two buildings were built by
Heinrich Strack
in 1876-9. The twin structures were destroyed in
World War II
.
- Anhalt
Gate (
Anhalter Tor
at
Stresemannstraße /Anhalter Straße
near S-Bahnhof
Anhalter Bahnhof
, design by
Karl Friedrich Schinkel
).
- Potsdam
Gate (
Potsdamer Tor
at
Leipziger Platz
/
Potsdamer Platz
; design by
Karl Friedrich Schinkel
, damaged in WW2, demolished in the 1950s).
-
Brandenburg Gate in 1764, view to the west
-
Leipzig Gate/Potsdam Gate around 1830
-
Rosenthal Gate around 1800
-
Halle Gate around 1800
-
Halle Gate around 1900
-
Hamburg Gate 1860
-
Water Gate in 1865
-
New Gate 1866
-
Oranienburg Gate in 1867
References
[
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]
- ^
the German term had been originally "Akzisemauer" / excise wall but with the fading knowledge of the term "excise" most references incorporate "Zoll" / Customs to flag the function
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Zschocke, Helmut (2007).
Die Berliner Akzisemauer ? Die vorletzte Mauer der Stadt
(in German). Berlin: Berlin Story Verlag.
ISBN
978-3-929829-76-1
.
52°31′42″N
13°22′48″E
/
52.528468°N 13.379933°E
/
52.528468; 13.379933