This 18th-century square in the heart of the central district of Mitte has an opera house, cathedral and a library and was once the site of a Nazi book-burning event.
Bebelplatz is a public square that played a prominent role in Germany’s wartime history and is surrounded by fascinating heritage buildings. Visit Bebelplatz to see 18th-century architecture in the Staatsoper (State Opera), the Alte Bibliothek (Old Library) and the stately Sankt-Hedwigs-Kathedral (St. Hedwig’s Cathedral). You will also find a memorial for the Nazi book burning that occurred here in 1933.
Walk into Bebelplatz from the busy Unter den Linden, a tree-lined boulevard that runs through Mitte. From this corner of the square you can see on the left the elegant State Opera, with its neoclassical architecture and distinctive portico. See the bright green dome of St. Hedwig’s Cathedral towering up from the opposite corner of the square. The Old Palace and the Old Library are located to the right. Once called the Royal Library, the Old Library now belongs to Humboldt University, the oldest university in Berlin.
Wander over to a small plate of glass that can be seen in among the square’s cobbles. This is the artwork and memorial Bibliothek (Library), by Israeli artist Micha Ullmann. Created in 1995, the artwork marks the event when Nazi’s burnt 20,000 books in Bebelplatz on May 10, 1933. Peer into the glass and you can see rows of empty bookshelves descending deep into the ground.
The book burning was organised by the Nazis and the National Socialist German Students Association and took place simultaneously in 34 German university cities. Following a speech by Joseph Goebbels, works by authors such as Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Kurt Tucholsky and Heinrich Heine were all destroyed in the enormous fire that raged in the square. The memorial’s empty library bookcases are large enough to fit all 20,000 books.
Bebelplatz is located just off Berlin’s historic main boulevard Unter den Linden in the Mitte district. The square is just over half a mile (1-kilometre) east of the Brandenburg Gate and a short walk from Berlin’s famous Museum Island. Get to Bebelplatz by subway, train or tram. Bebelplatz is open daily and free to enter.
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