RICHARD WAGNER PLATZ U-BAHN STATION
Grand Opera meets the Third Reich at Charlottenburg
There aren’t that many subway stops that rise to the level of tourist destination. Most of the ones that do are usually at major terminals like airports or train stations, some attached to shopping malls, like the Hackescher Markt of Berlin or Stachaus in Munich. This is one modest station that’s basically a stop on where you might be going, that’s worth a pause, named for a composer with art nouveau decoration purloined from destruction.
The Richard Wagner Platz subway station in the U7 underground line in Berlin is the stop in the heart of the Charlottenburg district. Should you be going to visit the amazing royal palace of Charlottenburg (see Charlottenburg Old Palace), you might take this station, though its yet a few long Berlin blocks to get to the palace park. Or you might arrive here if going to the restaurants and shopping of this old upscale West Berlin district (see Filou Restaurant). But as you depart the subway train car and alight on the platform, your location will be unmistakable. On the wall of the station in yellow and black tile is the elegant name of Richard Wagner spelled out.
The station first opened in 1906 during the age of Imperial Germany (the 2nd Reich) and was named Wilhelmplatz for the emperor, old Kaiser Bill. It was the westernmost terminus station of Berlin’s first underground line designed by Alfred Grenander. The line and station at the time served the Charlottenburg Town Hall, when it was a separate district. With the expansion of the underground rail lines (U-Bahn) in Berlin’s growth of the 1930s the station was reconstructed. It was near the grand theater of the Deutsches Opera, and was renamed for Hitler’s favorite composer in 1935, with the rise to power of the Third Reich, as the old empire of the Hohenzollerns (see Hohenzollern Crypt) was relegated to the past, like the former royal palaces were turned to state purposes.
Aside from the Wagner name tiles, the station walls feature mosaics in the Byzantine style saved from an old grand hotel torn down near the Postdamer Platz to make way for construction there. The next station on the U7 line is Bismarckstrasse with a connection to the U2 line. If you make the transfer, maybe a street artist will be playing a bit of Wagner for change. © Bargain Travel Europe
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