Gleim-Tunnel
The Gleim-Tunnel is a 130-metre street tunnel built in 1905 beneath the railway tracks between Prenzlauer Berg and Wedding. During the Cold War, the Berlin Wall ran directly through its centre, sealing it shut for 29 years.
The tunnel was originally constructed as part of Berlin’s expanding street network, allowing Gleimstrasse to pass under the elevated S-Bahn tracks. Its impressive steel superstructure rests on 78 cast-iron columns and spans 23 metres in width. When the Wall was built in August 1961, the tunnel fell exactly on the border between the French sector (Wedding) and the Soviet sector (Prenzlauer Berg).
Gleimstraße Berlin (Photo: Roehrensee)
Both entrances were sealed with concrete blocks, and the tunnel became part of the death strip. For 29 years, this engineering landmark sat empty and inaccessible, even though thousands of people passed above it daily on the S-Bahn.
The tunnel was reopened for pedestrian traffic in September 1990, just months after reunification. Today it connects the popular Mauerpark (on the former death strip) with the residential streets of Wedding. The tunnel entrance is visible from Mauerpark, and traces of the Wall’s path can be seen in the surrounding landscape.
Gleimtunnel Berlin (Photo: Roehrensee)
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