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Senefelderplatz
© tic

Senefelderplatz

The square on the Pfefferberg was designed in 1885 by the director of the city gardening bureau, Hermann Mächtig (1837-1909). Since 1896 though its been named after Alois Senefelder. The statue in the small park on Kollwitzstrasse is one of the only statues in the city district of Prenzlauer Berg.

The memorial for the inventor, poet and book printer Alois Senefelder was created by the Berliner sculptor Rudolph Pohle. The statue made from Italian Carrara-Marble was erected on the Schmuck square opposite the Pfeffer brewery with money provided by the printer’s labour unit. It was the first memorial for a craftsman in Berlin. During the Second World War it was severely damaged and in 1959 it was restored. The Austrian Alois Senefelder (1771-1834) was born in Prague and died in Munich. He invented the Stahlschreibfeder (steel pencil) which replaced the feather pen, as well as the flat printing procedure also known as Lithography or stone print that revolutionised the book printing. An angel is writing his signature in mirror form on the memorial’s pedestal. Sitting there is a child who is reading the name with a mirror in his hand to see what is says but unfortunately the mirror is often broken and other people can’t see what it says.