This square used to be called "Oxen Square". It got
its present name after the visit in 1805 of czar Alexander I. It
developed into an important traffic junction and business centre
from 1882 onwards. Alexanderplatz was modernised in the 1920s.
Today only the office buildings of Peter Behren (Alexander – and
Berolina-Haus) remain from that period. The surrounding apartment
blocks were part of the reconstruction programme of the GDR, such
as the "Haus des Lehrers" (Teachers House) with
its frieze and the domed Congress Hall.
