Unter den Linden

Unter den Linden (Under the Limes – named for its linden trees which line the grassed pedestrian mall between the two carriageways) is one of Berlin's splendid boulevards. Road traffic runs on either side, as in the Champs-Élysées in Paris, constructed later, or in the shorter, wider, much more recent Mall in Washington, D.C.

A boulevard of linden trees was planted from 1647 extending from the electoral palace to the gates of the city by Friedrich Wilhelm I, "The Great Elector", who wanted to ride from his castle to his hunting park the Tiergarten with more appropriately Baroque splendor This stretch became the best known and grandest street in Berlin. The section west of the Brandenburg Gate, going through the Tiergarten Park, is called now Straße des 17. Juni. The rich history of the Prussian era is reflected in the buildings, which include

• Brandenburg Gate
• Humboldt University
• Kronprinzenpalais (Crown Prince's Palace – most recently used as a museum)
• Russian Embassy (formerly the Soviet Embassy)
• Berlin State Opera
• The Cathedral of St. Hedwig
• The Zeughaus (Arsenal)

After the Schlossbrücke bridge over the Spree the road becomes Karl-Liebknecht-Straße.

It was cut by the building of the Berlin Wall.

See also

• Karl Friedrich Schinkel
• Heinrich Heine's Und grüß mich nicht unter den Linden

External link

• Webcam: Live-View of the Street "Unter den Linden" with Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany