Berlin: The Gay Districts: Mitte - Weidendammer Brücke

The Weidendammerbruecke is one of the most impressive bridges in Berlin. It carries the Friedrichstrasse across the Spree just North of the railway station, linking the Dorotheenstadt with the Friedrichstadt. It joins the commercial southerly section of the Friedrichstrasse to the cultural centre in the northerly section, the office and retailing zone around the chamber of commerce and Friedrichstrasse Station with the Berliner Ensemble and Friedrichstadtpalast theatres and the "Tacheles" alternative arts centre.
While the Berlin Wall stood, the so-called "Traenenpalast" or Palace of Tears, a main sector boundary crossing point for West Berliners visiting East Berlin, was located at the southern end of the bridge.
The river bank to the South of the bridge is dominated by the roof of the station building, somewhat set back from the water; the triangular plot in front was famed in the Twenties as the proposed site for a Mies van der Rohe glass high-rise (Turmhauswettbewerb). However, because of the difficult subterranean conditions and the course of the underground railway, the site was never built on.
Riverside walkways and roads join the bridge from the side, leading to the Museuminsel and the Reichstag. Along the Schiffbauerdamm, the Weidendamm and further along the Reichstagsufer, the river flows between historic and modern inner city buildings on both sides.