Hermannplatz

Hermannplatz is the main public square in the north of Berlin's Neukoelln district, right on the border with Kreuzberg. It received its name on 9 September 1885 after Hermann the Cheruscan. Between 1927 and 1929 Philipp Schaefer designed the Karstadt department store on the square - then the largest and most modern store in Europe, with direct U-Bahn access and a roof garden; the SS blew up the original in the last days of the war in 1945. Today Hermannplatz is the junction of U-Bahn lines U7 and U8, a terminus for many buses and the gateway to Sonnenallee with its Arab restaurants. By day the square is shaped by Turkish, Roma and snack shops, by night by the bars of Reuterstrasse and Weserstrasse; the Karstadt building is due to be replaced by 2030 with a new structure echoing the original towers.