Church sights in Berlin
- Sort by:
- Popular
-
A
Marienkirche
This Gothic brick gem has welcomed worshippers since the 13th century, making it one of Berlin’s oldest surviving churches. A faded Dance of Death fresco inspired by the plague of 1486 in the vestibule leads to a relatively plain interior enlivened by elaborate epitaphs and a baroque alabaster pulpit by Andreas Schlüter (1703).
reviewed
-
B
Hugenottenmuseum
Local Huguenots worshipped at the Französischer Dom (French Dome), where the small Hugenottenmuseum now chronicles their story. The elegant structure is a spitting image of the Deutscher Dom opposite.
reviewed
-
C
Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche
The bombed-out tower of this landmark church serves as an antiwar memorial, standing quiet and dignified amid the roaring traffic. The 1895 original was a real beauty as can tell from the before and after pictures on the ground floor. The adjacent octagonal hall of worship, added in 1961, has amazing midnight-blue glass walls and a giant 'floating' Jesus.
reviewed
-
St Marien am Behnitz
Separated from the Spandau Altstadt by the busy Strasse am Juliusturm, the Kolk quarter exudes medieval village flair with its romantic narrow lanes, crooked, half-timbered houses and 78m-long section of town wall. A must-see jewel is the church of St Marien am Behnitz. A top-to-bottom makeover of the 1848 church saw the return of the hand-painted murals, decorative stucco and stained-glass windows that had been destroyed during a botched 1960s restoration job. Try catching a concert here – the acoustics are tremendous.
reviewed
-
D
Sankt-Hedwigs-Kathedrale
This copper-domed church (1773) was designed by Knobelsdorff, inspired by the Pantheon in Rome and named for the patron saint of Silesia. It was Berlin’s only Catholic house of worship until 1854. Blown to bits during WWII, the church now has a circular, modern interior, lidded by a ribbed dome and accented with Gothic sculpture and a copy of Michelangelo’s Pietà.
During WWII St Hedwig was a centre of Catholic resistance led by Bernard Lichtenberg, who died en route to the Dachau concentration camp in 1943 and is buried in the crypt.
reviewed
-
E
Sophienkirche
One of Berlin’s finest baroque churches, Sophienkirche was named for Sophie Louise, wife of King Friedrich I. The queen financed the project but was nowhere to be seen when it opened in 1713, though not by choice: her stepson and newly crowned king, Friedrich Wilhelm I, had banished her from Berlin! Today the galleried confection with its delicate stucco ceiling is rarely open and the tower is under long-term reconstruction. The entrance is at the end of a walkway off Grosse Hamburger Strasse, past a building still sporting WWII shrapnel wounds. The enchanting churchyard with its ancient trees and gracefully aging tombstones is also visible from Sophienstrasse.
reviewed
-
F
Matthäuskirche
Standing a bit lost and forlorn within the Kulturforum, the Stüler-designed Matthäuskirche (1846) is a beautiful neo-Romanesque confection with alternating bands of red and ochre brick and a light-flooded, modern sanctuary that doubles as a gallery. Climb the tower for good views of the Kulturforum and Potsdamer Platz. A nice time to visit is for the free 20-minute organs recitals at 12.30pm Tuesday to Sunday.
German resistance fighter Dietrich Bonhoeffer was ordained a Lutheran minister here in 1931. A few years later the church was scheduled to be transplanted to Spandau to make room for Albert Speer's Germania. Fortunately the war – and history – took a different…
reviewed
-
G
Gethsemanekirche
This 1893 neo-Gothic church was a hotbed of dissent in the final days of the GDR and thus a thorn in the side of the Stasi which, as late as October 1989, brutally quashed a peaceful gathering outside its portals. Ernst Barlach's Geistkämpfer (Ghost Fighter, 1928) sculpture stands outside the church, which is usually closed except for concerts and Sunday services.
Designed by August Orth, the Gethsemane Church was among the dozens commissioned by Emperor Wilhelm II to ‘create a bulwark against socialism, communism and atheism’ which, he feared, were fomenting in Berlin's working-class districts. Ironically, rather than stifling such movements, the church seemed to…
reviewed
-
H
Berliner Dom
Pompous yet majestic, the Italian Renaissance-style former royal court church (1905) does triple duty as house of worship, museum and concert hall. Inside it's gilt to the hilt and outfitted with a lavish marble-and-onyx altar, a 7269-pipe Sauer organ and elaborate royal sarcophagi . Climb up the 267 steps to the gallery for glorious city views.
For more dead royals, albeit in less extravagant coffins, drop down below to the crypt. Skip the cathedral museum unless you’re interested in the building’s construction. The sanctuary has great acoustics and is often used for concerts, sometimes played on the huge and famous Sauer organ.
Admission to the Dom is free during…
reviewed