Construction Crane Rises Near Friedrichstraße in Berlin-Mitte

Friedrichstraße has anchored Berlin's Mitte district since the late 17th century, when Friedrich I ordered its development as a central thoroughfare. The street became the city's premier shopping and entertainment corridor by the early 20th century, lined with department stores, theaters, and cafés. Cold War division cut Friedrichstraße in two, and Checkpoint Charlie, the former Allied crossing point, sits along its southern stretch. Invalidenstraße takes its name from the Invalidenhaus, a home for disabled soldiers built nearby in the 1700s, and today the street runs east-west through Mitte toward Berlin Hauptbahnhof. Reconstruction has continued in this part of the city since reunification, filling gaps left by wartime destruction and Cold War-era clearance.

Taken September 2017