Ruedersdorf is situated 26 km (16 mi) east of Berlin centre. The municipality is noted for its limestone-open-pit mining. Some parts of the mine are used as a museum (Museumspark Ruedersdorf). Some notable buildings in Berlin such as the Brandenburg Gate are built with limestone from Ruedersdorf.
Ruedersdorf was built as a foundation of the Cistercian 1235-1250 in southeastern Barnim, where the monastery Zinna built up ten villages as the owner of the land. During this period, the legend says Ruedersdorfer farmers discovered on their fields and meadows the outcropping limestone. Right thereafter, in 1254 Ruedersdorfer limestone was used for the construction of the Dominican monastery in Strausberg.
With the privatization of the limestone mining and cement plants, as well as the demolition tattered factory building the environmental situation improved greatly. The serious dust emissions in Ruedersdorf have been significantly reduced to 1995 inclusive.
On September 23rd 2008, the municipality was awarded the title "City of Diversity" conferred by the federal government.
Tour Ruedersdorf through Waymarking
Fontain at Village Square
In 2009 the village square of Ruedersdorf was refurbished. The construction costs of around EUR 670,000.00 already included the prize for building up the fontain.
It is an octagonal tray with a column assembled in the middle, on each of the four sides of the colum an arm is mounted, where water comes from. Suitable for Ruedersdorf the fountain is built of limestone, but not material from the open pit: "The Rüdersdorfer limestone is no longer hard enough," says Susanne Grieb from the Berlin landscape architects office Neumann Gusenburger.
From the newspaper MOZ
