The square is named after the Russian Tsar Alexander I, which also denotes the larger neighbourhood stretching from Mollstraße in the north-east to Spandauer Straße and the Rotes Rathaus in the south-west.

It is a popular starting point for tourists, with many attractions including the Fernsehturm (TV tower), the Nikolai Quarter and the Rotes Rathaus ('Red City Hall') situated nearby.

Alexanderplatz is still one of Berlin's major commercial areas, housing various shopping malls, department stores and other large retail locations.

Frederick William, the Great Elector, granted cheaper plots of land, waiving the basic interest rate, in the area in front of the Georgian Gate.

In 1734, the Berlin Customs Wall, which initially consisted of a ring of palisade fences, was reinforced and grew to encompass the old city and its suburbs, including Königsvorstadt.

In 1771, a new stone bridge (the Königsbrücke) was built over the moat and in 1777 a colonnade-lined row of shops (Königskolonnaden) was constructed by architect Carl von Gontard.

Between 1783 and 1784, seven three-storey buildings were erected around the square by Georg Christian Unger, including the famous Gasthof zum Hirschen, where Karl Friedrich Schinkel lived as a permanent tenant and Heinrich von Kleist stayed in the days before his suicide.

To mark this occasion, on 2 November, King Frederick William III ordered the square to be renamed Alexanderplatz:[6] His Royal Majesty, by means of the supreme Cabinet, orders on the 2nd of this month, those in the Königs-Vorstadt Sandgasse to take the name Kaiserstrasse, and the square in front of the workhouse in the newly-conceived suburb settles with the name of Alexander-Platz, this is hereby made known to the public for news and attention.

During these years, Alexanderplatz was populated by fish wives, water carriers, sand sellers, rag-and-bone men, knife sharpeners and day laborers.

The northwest of the square contained a second, smaller green space where, in 1895, the 7.5-metre (25 ft) copper Berolina statue by sculptor Emil Hundrieser was erected.

In 1901, Ernst von Wolzogen founded the first German cabaret, the Überbrettl, in the former Sezessionsbühne ('Secession stage') at Alexanderstraße 40, initially under the name Bunte Brettl.

The Berlin cigarette company Manoli had a famous billboard at the time which contained a ring of neon tubes that constantly circled a black ball.

Writer Kurt Tucholsky wrote a poem referencing the advert, and the composer Rudolf Nelson made the legendary Revue Total manoli with the dancer Lucie Berber.

One structure demolished after World War II was the 'Rote Burg', a red brick building with round arches, previously used as police and Gestapo headquarters.

[13] Reconstruction planning for post-war Berlin gave priority to the dedicated space to accommodate the rapidly growing motor traffic in inner-city thoroughfares.

Protests starting 15 October and peaked on 4 November with an estimated 200,000 participants who called on the government of the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany to step down and demanded a free press, the opening of the borders and their right to travel.

Speakers were Christa Wolf, Stefan Heym, Friedrich Schorlemmer, Heiner Müller, Lothar Bisky, Christoph Hein and Steffie Spira.

After the political turnaround in the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall, socialist urban planning and architecture of the 1970s no longer corresponded to the current ideas of an inner-city square.

After initial discussions with the public, the goal quickly arose to reinstate Alexanderplatz's tram network for better connections to surrounding city quarters.

Kollhoff's plan was based on Behrens’ design, provided a horseshoe-shaped area of seven- to eight-storey buildings and 150-metre (490 ft) high towers with 42 floors.

Beginning with the reconstruction of the Kaufhof department store in 2004, and the biggest underground railway station of Berlin, some buildings were redesigned and new structures built on the square's south-eastern side.

[citation needed] In 2005, the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe began work to extend the tram line from Prenzlauer Allee to Alexanderplatz (Alex II).

However, the paving work was temporarily interrupted a few months after the start of construction by the 2006 FIFA World Cup and all excavation pits had to be provisionally asphalted over.

[citation needed] Behind the Alexanderplatz station, next to the CUBIX cinema in the immediate vicinity of the TV tower, the 30-metre (98 ft) high residential and commercial building, Alea 101, was built between 2012 and 2014.

As of October 2017, Alexanderplatz was classified a kriminalitätsbelasteter Ort ("crime-contaminated location") by the Berlin Allgemeinen Sicherheits- und Ordnungsgesetz (General Safety and Planning Laws).

[25] Despite the reconstruction of the tram line crossing, it has retained its socialist character, including the much-graffitied Fountain of Friendship between Peoples [de], a popular venue.

[27] It is a popular starting point for tourists, with many attractions including the Fernsehturm (TV tower), the Nikolai Quarter and the Rotes Rathaus ('Red City Hall') situated nearby.

Alexanderplatz is still one of Berlin's major commercial areas, housing various shopping malls, department stores and other large retail locations.

Long-term plans exist for the demolition of the 125-metre (410 ft) high former Interhotel Stadt Berlin (now the Hotel Park-Inn), with the site to be replaced by three skyscrapers.

According to the master plan of the architect Hans Kollhoff, up to eleven huge buildings will continue to be built, which will house a mixture of shops and apartments.