Hackescher Markt

Hackescher Markt is a busy square in the Spandauer Vorstadt district of central Berlin, set directly beneath the brick arches of the elevated S-Bahn line at its namesake station. It is named after Count Hans Christoph Friedrich von Hacke, who laid out the square in the mid-eighteenth century on the orders of Frederick II to clean up the old barn quarter. After decades of decay under the GDR, the area was rebuilt around the courtyard complex of the Hackesche Hoefe and turned into one of the most concentrated nightlife and shopping zones in central Berlin. Today cafes, concept stores, boutiques and bars line every side, and from here streets fan out to the Oranienburger Strasse and Rosenthaler Strasse club strip.