Ernst-Thälmann-Park

Ernst-Thaelmann-Park is a 25-hectare housing and park complex in Prenzlauer Berg, built between 1983 and 1986 on the site of the former Municipal Gasworks IV and now under heritage protection. The East German leadership treated the project as a showpiece for the 100th anniversary of Ernst Thaelmann in 1986: around 1,300 WBS-70 panel-built flats, a swimming hall, a planetarium and a 14-metre bronze monument of the communist politician by Lev Kerbel. After 1989 the monument was bitterly debated but eventually given protected status in 2014; today it is colourfully tagged and a meeting point for skaters. Only two original gasworks buildings survived demolition. The park combines wide lawns and a pond with the Zeiss-Grossplanetarium, which since a 2016 refit ranks among Europe's most advanced.