'' by
Charles Meynier depicting
Napoleon in Pariser Platz, 1806 troops after the
Franco-Prussian War Pariser Platz is the square immediately behind the Brandenburg Gate when approaching the historic heart of Berlin from the
zoological garden in the west. The
Neoclassical Brandenburg Gate was completed in the early 1790s by
Carl Gotthard Langhans. Until 1814, the square was known simply as
Viereck or
Quarree (the Square). In March 1814, after Prussian troops along with the other Allies captured Paris after the overthrow of
Napoleon, it was renamed Pariser Platz to mark this triumph. The Brandenburg Gate was the main gate in the western side of the
Customs Wall that surrounded the city in the eighteenth century. In fact, the Pariser Platz is located at the western end of
Unter den Linden, the ceremonial axis of the city, down which the victorious troops of all regimes ranging from the
Hohenzollern's to the
German Democratic Republic have marched in triumph. Before
World War II, Pariser Platz was the grandest square in Berlin, surrounded by the
American and
French embassies, the finest hotel (the
Adlon Hotel), the
Academy of the Arts, and several blocks of apartments and offices. During the last years of World War II, all the buildings around the square were turned to rubble by air raids and heavy artillery bombardment. The only structure left standing in the ruins of Pariser Platz was the Brandenburg Gate, which was restored by the East Berlin and West Berlin governments. After the war and especially with the construction of the
Berlin Wall, the square was laid waste and became part of the death zone dividing the city. When the city was reunited in 1990, there was broad consensus that the Pariser Platz should be made into a fine urban space again. The embassies would move back, the hotel and arts academy would be reinstated, and prestigious firms would be encouraged to build round the square. Under the rules of reconstruction, eaves heights had to be 22 meters, and buildings had to have a proper termination against the sky. Stone cladding was to be used as far as possible. Interpretations of these constraints, however, have varied to a great extent. == Buildings ==