Mühlendamm

Mühlendamm (Mill Dam) is a major thoroughfare in the central Mitte district of Berlin, Germany. It runs from the hictoric Cölln and Fischerinsel quarters to the Molkenmarkt square of Alt-Berlin via the Mühlendammbrücke (Mill Dam Bridge) crossing the Spree river. Named after several watermills at the site, a historic causeway was first laid out at this location about 1200 and became the nucleus of the late medieval city foundation. The current prestressed concrete bridge was built in 1968. It is part of an east–west road link to Berlin's city centre and the Bundesstraße 1 highway.

The bridge links Gertraudenstraße, Spittelmarkt and Leipziger Straße in the southwest with the Alexanderplatz area in the northeast. It thereby is part of the main east-west road connection in Berlin's historic city centre, beside the parallel route of Unter den Linden, Schloßplatz and Karl-Liebknecht-Straße in the north. East of the bridge is a large lockage, called Mühlendammschleuse, part of the Spree-Oder waterway.

The earliest river crossing was as a ford on the medieval Via Imperii trade route, leading from the Teltow region in the southwest (in the direction of Halle and Wittenberg) to the Barnim Plateau in the northeast (in the direction of Oderberg and Stettin), crossing the river Spree at a shallow spot in the Berlin Urstromtal. Built by German settlers after the Margraviate of Brandenburg was established in 1157, this new passage competed with existing river crossings at Spandau and Köpenick. At the ford an embankment dam and a weir were built to generate water power for grain and saw mills. Mentioned as Molendam, it was the key This was a decisive step in the development of the Cölln and Alt-Berlin villages on the two banks of the Spree river, soon followed by a second passage at the present-day Rathaus Bridge.

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