A Boulevard for Communism!
“Palaces for the workers!” was the rallying cry when the GDR built this new neighborhood on the ruins of the war in the early 1950s. Marx and Schinkel served as its inspiration. Socialist classicism, in other words. And palaces for the workers they became! Hygienic, luxurious, socially diverse, and monumental.
Image gallery
art:berlin - Die Karl-Marx-Allee
art:berlin - Die Karl-Marx-Allee
art:berlin - Die Karl-Marx-Allee
art:berlin - Die Karl-Marx-Allee
art:berlin - Die Karl-Marx-Allee
During the second construction phase between Strausberger Platz and Alexanderplatz, you can then experience magnificentexamples of what is known as the GDR’s “belated modernism.”
You can’t get any more modern or international in terms of architecture and style.
Get to know Richard Paulick, Josef Kaiser, or Hermann Henselmann—great architects who, unjustly, do not hold a similar rank to the Western star architects of that era.
The Hansaviertel, the West’s answer to Stalinallee, is also included in the narrative. While the planners of Stalinallee looked back to history, the West had modernism interpreted by its most famous architects.
The tour organizers highly recommend the Hansaviertel tour as a perfect complement. After these tours, you will understand why these two neighborhoods—these “two sides of the same coin”—will soon be designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Additional information
- Meeting point: in front of Komos, Karl-Marx-Allee 131A, 10243 Berlin, near Frankfurter Tor
- Tour duration: 2 hours
