Kiribu

The Berlin-Mauerpark

Berlin is full of interesting parks and green spots, which makes it difficult to choose which one to go to. Our choice on a sunny Sunday in March was the Mauerpark.

The Mauerpark is a very popular place especially in the summer for boulevard players, hobby soccer-players, basketball-players, jugglers, as well as hobby musicians. It provides relaxation and activities for your free time. The still standing Hinterlandmauer (a piece of the Berlin-Wall) at the Jahnstadium, is a place for graffiti artists to practice. There are two bicycle trails going through the park; the Berlin-Wall trail and the long distance trail, Berlin-Usedom. During the summer, the park is even used at night, in spite of a lack of street lamps.

Every year since the 1990s there is a celebration on the 30th of April to celebrate Walpurgisnacht with campfires, and artistic performances. North of the Hinterlandmauer and the Jahnstadium is the Max-Schmeling hall where events take place.

It is hard to believe that the ground you stand on at Mauerpark was once a train and railroad station in the 19th century. Even the Gleimtunnel is still visible as a railroad building.

The Mauerpark is situated between the administrative districts Wedding and Prenzlauer Berg (established in the 1920s). The Wedding is the west border to Mauerpark and belonged to the French sector, while the Prenzlauer Berg is the east border and belonged to the Soviet sector.

The park got its name from the Berlin-Wall which was built in 1961, dividing these two districts. The borderline also known as “the death strip” was situated on a hill underneath the Jahnstadium, whilst the level ground of the train station already belonged to West Berlin. Having the wall situated on a hill made it hard for the border troops to patrol the border. Due to an area exchange in 1988, east-Berlin was able to get a part of the train station ground by extending more than 1 Km of the border 50 meters to the west.

After the reunion in 1989/90, the borderline around the wall was used as a public park. In the summer of 1990, whilst the watchtowers of the border troops were still standing, the park was already seen as a “green bridge” between east and west Berlin. During this time, the project “Mauerpark” was formed. The landscape-architect Gustav Lange from Hamburg was in charge of planning the park; the construction work for this part of the park was finished in 1994.

The east part of the former railroad ground and the hill underneath the Jahnstadium with its Hinterlandmauer belong to the Mauerpark, whilst the part that belonged to the former west-Berlin was not included in the remodeling plans for the park. This ground has been used for a flea market and construction material storage since 2004. In the year 2005 approximately 2 hectares were added, with a farm for children “Moritzhof” north of Gleimstreet.

We really enjoyed a relaxing day in the sun there, browsing through the flea market (which still offers some memories and souvenirs from the times Berlin was divided). There are 4 or 5 large swings on top of the hill, next to the Hinterlandmauer, where you can sit and enjoy the view. Music was played all over the park and there was (like every Sunday) karaoke going on, encouraging you to sing along or just watch the others sing. This was a perfect Sunday and really worth many future visits.