Axis crossing Tiergarten

Berlin, spring 2001. It's almost done – at least some kind of quiet has returned to the Tiergarten district as the new north-south tunnel is nearing completion. This prestigious undertaking, a combination of railway, metro and road traffic tunnel, is not the first of its kind, though. Right in the vicinity of this structure, some other mysterious, subterranean buildings can be found: 3 “blind tunnels” from the Third Reich which were never completed, two for road traffic and one for the metro.

The Nazis, following architect Albert Speer's plans, wanted to build two vast traffic lanes through “Germania”, as Berlin was to be renamed, flattening large parts of the city in the process. These two axes, megalomanic and pompous in their extreme size, would have crossed at the spot where the Soviet memorial is located nowadays. At this point, the traffic coming from the south would have been guided through a sophisticated network of tunnels into the north. In addition, a tunnel for a new railway line from Lübars to Marienfelde, parth of a north-south route, was also planned. This undertaking was modelled on Moscow's circular metro system. The building work started in 1938.

The Second World War put an end to these activities – bunkers were the upmost priority now. The road traffic tunnels, though, were actually built and the same goes for a 200 metre stretch of the metro line, with a width of 6.80 metres and a depth of 16 metres under the surface.

After the war, these structures were filled up or sealed with concrete. They were only rediscovered in the 1960s and had, in the meantime, filled with water. For safety reasons, the water was pumped out and the tunnels renovated – this was still cheaper than removing them. Nowadays, they are still there, radiating an oppressive, surreal and sombre atmosphere. They have got very impressive acoustics which incite the singing of Gregorian chants. There are no plans for the future use of these tunnels.