1987

1990

2000

2009

General Information

The panoramic images of the “Time Travel Potsdamer Platz” were made by Jacques Obers, a Dutch photographer who kept returning to Potsdamer Platz in downtown Berlin during the past decades and captured these amazing historic images. During his first panorama shoot in 1987, he was limited to a visitors' platform overlooking the no-man's land behind the Berlin Wall and East Berlin beyond from the western side. His working method was to take a total of seven shots side by side, and to assemble them into a full panoramic image later on.

The next photo was created in early 1990, shortly after the Berlin Wall had been pierced on Potsdamer Platz, among other places, and after a first provisional road had been put in. During his shoots, most times assisted by his brother Frenne, Jacques Obers made sure that he positioned himself in the same place if possible, and always used the same angle.

Starting in the year 2000, however, the extensive building works in progress at Potsdamer Platz forced him to move his position slightly. The image dating back to that year shows the site undergoing a momentous transition: The first building, Mosse Palais, has already gone up, fleshing out the square's future contours for the first time. To update local residents and visitors of the development projects, an elevated box-shaped information centre, bright red, sat on the square between 1995 and 2001.

In 2009, the twin squares of Potsdamer Platz and Leipziger Platz looked virtually complete. Only a few last gap sites and construction sites remain.

Today, only the north-west corner building of the octagonal Leipziger Platz has yet to be completed.

Location description