Eliaskirche (Berlin)

View of the facade of the Eliaskirche

The Eliaskirche is located at Senefelderstraße 5 in the Helmholtzkiez of the Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg , which belongs to the Pankow district. The design of the basilica without a transept comes from the government master builder Gustav Werner and the architect Fritz Förster. Its architectural style is already reminiscent of the dawn of modernity , but the neo-Gothic still has an effect on the pointed arched portals and the tracery windows in the gable facade. The church, consecrated in 1910, is a listed building . It belongs to the municipality of Prenzlauer Berg Nord in the church district of Berlin Stadtmitte , but has been available to MACHmit for long-term use since 2003 ! Museum leased to children .

history

Interior used as a museum for children

The Gethsemane Church had become too small for the rapidly growing parish. Therefore, on March 16, 1907, an independent daughter church was formed under the name Gethsemane III Ost, which was supposed to relieve the mother church. The services for the daughter church were initially held in a provisional sermon site. It was decided in 1908 that the new church should be named after the prophet Elijah . The foundation stone was laid on May 23, 1909, the inauguration on July 3, 1910.

After minor war damage, the sanctuary was redesigned in a simplified form in 1960. From 1983 to 1987 Marianne Birthler worked as a catechist and community helper in the children and youth work of the Elias community.

An extensive renovation was necessary in the 1990s. The costs could neither be raised by the parish nor the Protestant regional church . Therefore in 2001 the church was given up. Today the domed hall in the courtyard of the community hall at Göhrener Straße 11 is the center of community life. The congregation had already held services here after the end of the war because the church was unusable due to war damage.

The Prenzlauer Berg Children's and Youth Museum was able to be won over for a new purpose, as it was looking for rooms in the Helmholtzkiez, in whose area the Eliaskirche is located. The non-cancellable use of the church by the MACHmit! The museum for children was contractually limited to 75 years. The redesign of the interior of the converted church takes monument protection into account. The original baptismal font was rescued and restored from the church and now decorates the interior of the domed hall.

building

The church, a masonry building faced with clinker bricks , is wedged into the closed perimeter block development of residential buildings. The gable front in the form of Brandenburg brick Gothic has two wide, deeply nested pointed arch portals. Five high lancet windows rise above a cornice , which are continued in pointed arches and end in rose windows or small window groups. The middle part is framed by two towers of different heights, which are covered with slate. The low tower hides the stairwell. In the square, staggered in outline bell tower, a pyramid-shaped helmet wearing and the helmet rod on the top as a geodesic point is used, the community spaces are in the substructure housed above the bell chamber. Behind the gable front is the transverse side of the wide nave , to which the rectangular, recessed choir adjoins. The two aisles have galleries , as does the side of the nave opposite the choir.

Furnishing

View from the courtyard to the nave of the Eliaskirche

The central nave has a simple coffered ceiling , the chancel also has a flat ceiling . The vestibule has a groined vault . In the church light passes through the clerestory and the windows on the facade. During the redesign in 1960/1961, the rectangular chancel lost its star ceiling on a deep blue background. Likewise, the wooden altar designed in the neo-Gothic style , which showed a painting with the Ascension of Christ , and the pulpit from the time the church was built were removed. After the removal of the old furnishings, the interior is unadorned except for the glass mosaic Revelation of John on the east wall of the chancel by Lothar Mannewitz . During the modernization, the stained glass of the three middle facade windows was also lost. The painting of the balustrades of the galleries was originally part of the overall furnishings.

See also

• List of decimated churches in the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia

literature

• Architects and Engineers Association of Berlin: Berlin and its buildings. Part VI. Sacred buildings. Berlin 1997.
• Günther Kühne, Elisabeth Stephani: Evangelical churches in Berlin. Berlin 1978.
• Georg Dehio : Handbook of the German art monuments . Berlin. 3rd edition, reviewed and supplemented by Michael Bollé. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin et al. 2006, ISBN 3-422-03111-1 .
• Ernst Badstübner , Sibylle Badstübner-Gröger: Churches in Berlin. Berlin 1987.

Web links

Commons : Eliaskirche (Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Entry in the Berlin State Monument List with further information
• Evangelical parish Prenzlauer Berg Nord
• DO! Museum for children

Individual evidence

1. ^ Federal Agency for Civic Education: Marianne Birthler | Youth opposition in the GDR. Retrieved June 11, 2018 . 

Coordinates: 52 ° 32 ′ 26.2 "  N , 13 ° 25 ′ 21.2"  E