TODAY IN BERLIN: DOROTHEA'S NEW LAND

February 8 - Berlin Calendar Page for All

On this day in 1670 Brandenburg’s ruler, Friedrich Wilhelm, better known as the Großer Kurfürst (Great Elector) gave his second wife, Dorothea Sophie, the land stretching between Berlin’s fortification wall and the electoral hunting grounds, the Tiergarten.

The gift comprised not only land, but also a sheep farm, brickworks and, of course, an inn. By 1674 the Electress turned it into a proper city, which was granted city rights and was aptly named Neustadt, or the New City. However, come 1681 it was re-named again and has been ever since known as Dorotheenstadt.

Von Oesfeld’s 1789 map “Grundriss der Königlichen Residenzstädte Berlin with Neustadt marked in yellow.

Dorothea had the district divided into a - typical at the time (look at the Dutch settlements that became today’s New York City) - straight grid with three main streets called (moving in the S-N direction): Erste Straße (First Street), Mittel Straße (Middle Street) and Letzte Straße (or Last Street).

Section of the 1870s Sineck-Situationsplan von Berlin, showing Dorotheenstadt with Friedrichstraße as the SN line and no Bahnhof Friedrichstraße yet. Instead a circus building and a gasometer.

With Mittelstraße still bearing its old name, you can guess that Erste Straße soon came to be known as die Lindenstraße and is called Unter den Linden today. By the way, it was Dorothea - with full support of her spouse, Friedrich Wilhelm - who had the alley of trees (back then also most likely chestnut and walnut trees) planted. She is also said to have planted the first tree herself.

But happened to Letzter Straße? If you look closely on the map, you will see that today its name honours the woman herself. It is called Dorotheenstraße.

Dorothea Sophie von Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, herself a young widow, married the Großer Kurfürst after the latter’s wife, Luise Henriette von Oranien died, too. The marriage, not political but based on sympathy and even love, was a happy and harmonious. Together they created a modern and well-managed state. Still, Dorothea would be slagged off after her husband’s death and turned into “the evil step-mother” by Friedrich Wilhelm’s eldest son, future Friedrich I King in Prussia. She did deserve better.

If you want to know the story of Dorotheenstadt, which by 1699 was home to a third of all of Berlin's French refugees, Huguenots, and became a central district of the Weltstadt Berlin, my audio-walk is a great opportunity to learn more:

Silk, Sin and Stages: In and Out of Northern Friedrichstraße » Berlin audio tour » VoiceMap