Görlitzer Bahnhof

Berlin Görlitzer Bahnhof
„Empfangsgebäude des Görlitzer Bahnhofes in Berlin” an 1872 painting depicting the station entrance hall
Location	Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Berlin, Berlin Germany

Görlitzer Bahnhof was the name of the Berlin railway terminus for the mainline link between the capital, Cottbus in Brandenburg and Görlitz in Lower Silesia (since 1945 Saxony). It stood overlooking Spreewaldplatz in the Outer Luisenstadt, the eastern part of Kreuzberg but wartime bombing and Cold War tensions led to its closure and eventual demolition.

The Görlitzer Bahnhof (Berlin U-Bahn) station was named after this historic station and is located on a different site nearby.

The station was designed by August Orth, an architect later responsible for the Emmauskirche in nearby Lausitzer Platz, and built between 1865 and 1867 in the Palazzo style of the Italian Renaissance. It formed part of a railway expansion project that would link Berlin with Cottbus and Görlitz, and then ultimately with cities such as Sagan (Żagań) and Breslau (Wrocław) (both in Poland since 1945) and Vienna in Austria.

On 13 June 1866 a military train bound for the Austro-Prussian war became the first train to leave the then incomplete station site. The connection was one of convenience because the military had built their barracks in neighbouring Wrangelstraße.

Shortly afterwards, on 13 September, a regular passenger service began between Berlin and Cottbus. By late 1867 the Berlin-Görlitz line was complete and the route, which passed through the countryside of the Spreewald and the Lower Lusatia and the towns of Königs Wusterhausen, Lübben and Lübbenau, officially opened on 31 December 1867. Although founded by a private company, owned by industrialist and "rail king" Bethel Henry Strousberg, the service was nationalised on 28 March 1882.