Breitkopfbecken, Retention basin and garden monument in Reinickendorf, Germany

The Breitkopfbecken is a drop-shaped pond in Berlin's Reinickendorf district, fed by rainwater collecting in a natural depression. It lies within a green space that is a listed garden monument, and reed beds along its banks are protected as biotopes. A playground and sports area opened on its eastern side in 2015.

The structure was built in the early 1930s under architect Erwin Barth's direction. It transformed a natural depression called Ehl-Pfuhl into a modern water management facility.

The name honors Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf, a founder of a music publishing company in Leipzig, linking the site to Germany's cultural past. Today visitors experience the basin area as a green space within a densely built residential neighborhood.

The basin sits near U-Bahn station Residenzstrasse and is easily reached by public transport. The area is open during daylight hours and offers plenty of space for walking and relaxing.

The pond was already marked as Ehl-Pfuhl on an 1844 map, and ice merchant Nowicki ran a small natural-ice works here before 1900; the ice sheds still appear on a 1925 map. The water also served as the village pond, fire-fighting pond and cattle watering place.