Platz der Luftbrücke

Platz der Luftbrücke is a landmarked square and transport node in Berlin, Germany, on the border between the localities of Tempelhof and Kreuzberg. The entrance to the former Tempelhof International Airport is on the square. The buildings around the square are now mostly government agencies, in particular police headquarters. The name of the square commemorates the Berlin airlift of 1948/49 (Luftbrücke, 'air bridge') in which Tempelhof was the main airfield used; the Berlin Airlift Monument is in the square.TransportThe square is the junction of two major traffic arteries, the north-south Bundesstraße 96 (Mehringdamm and Tempelhofer Damm) and the east-west Columbiadamm (to Neukölln) and Dudenstraße (to Schöneberg). Manfred-von-Richthofen-Straße runs from the square southwest to the Neu-Tempelhof Kiez or housing development in Tempelhof.The Platz der Luftbrücke U-Bahn station is at the north end of the square; called Flughafen (airport) until 1975, it provided a direct connection between the Berlin U-Bahn and the airport (closed in 2008), whose main entrance was in the square.Buildings and monumentsOn the east side of the square are the airport departure building, designed by Ernst Sagebiel, and administration building, in the same style. These prefigure the unrealised designs for the Nazi capital, Welthauptstadt Germania; its North-South Axis would have run approximately 1 km west of the square and the airport entrance would have faced the triumphal arch.