Abstract

Several years ago, a West Berlin city official made a rather surprising discovery. Although Shakespeare's plays have occupied a prominent place in German culture since the 18th century and are still the most frequently performed in West German theater there was no street in the whole city bearing his name. Here was a state of affairs clearly in need of remedy: a city with dozens of streets named after generals and military victories might well wish, in the interest of balance, to commemorate an international cultural hero. In this spirit, on September 25, 1987, the Lord Mayor of London, the British Commander of Berlin, and the Mayor of West Berlin gathered to consecrate a newly created Shakespeare Square next to the Berlin Opera and to unveil a monumental bust of the timeless bard, a gift from the City of London on the occasion of Berlin's 750th anniversary.