Evangelical Lutheran Church Berlin

The Evangelical Lutheran Church Berlin, Annenstraße 52/53, is a house of worship of the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church (SELK) and is located in Luisenstadt in the Berlin district of Mitte of the district of the same name . It is the first church of the Evangelical Lutheran (Old Lutheran) Church in the city. The parish belongs to the Berlin-Brandenburg church district . A special feature is that it has not had a name since it was founded. It is popularly known as the Annenkirche because of its location on Annenstrasse . The church is a listed building monument.

history

The church belongs to the old Lutheran church that was built in 1830 . After the Prussian Union in 1817/1821 , the previous church also served at times as a garrison church for the Saxon soldiers who were Lutherans . Already Friedrich Wilhelm III. put the community under pressure in 1817 and 1830, but it was only King Friedrich Wilhelm IV that prohibited the community from using the garrison church. She then had to build her own church. 17 members of the community indicated to the consistory on May 12, 1835 that they are from now on independent.

With considerable effort, the church in Annenstrasse was built according to the plans of the later city building officer and Schinkel student Hermann Blankenstein and consecrated on October 11, 1857 after only two years of construction. Thus it is today the second oldest church building in Luisenstadt after the Protestant St. Jacobi Church (1844-1845) in Oranienstrasse . One of the first pastors in the community was Friedrich Lasius , who was instrumental in building the church from 1838 to 1884. After the expiry of the waiting period, members of the community succeeded in 1984 in transporting the tombstone located in West Berlin to East Berlin and setting it up in front of the building. Until 1908 there was a community school. The schoolhouse was completely destroyed in 1945, while the church suffered fire and bomb damage. The son of Pastor Johannes Stier, Martin Stier , was killed while extinguishing the building after an air raid on February 4, 1945. The Red Army occupied the basement of the church on the night of April 23rd to 24th, 1945, drove away the residents and set up a news station there. The church was restored in 1946. For the 100th anniversary of the parish fair on October 20, 1957, the preacher, Oberkirchenrat Walter Günther, was able to inaugurate the newly designed altar . In 1967 the ward purchased new sacrament implements. In 1956, 1975–1981 and 1989/1990 the church, rectory and organ were renovated or renewed. Today there is room for around 1200 people.

One of the best-known members of the congregation was Chancellor Otto von Bismarck , who was "incorporated" during his time in Berlin through his wife Johanna von Puttkamer's membership in the church .

The year 1961 marked a turning point in the history of the community with the construction of the Berlin Wall . Quite a few of the then around 2000 parishioners were cut off from their church, which led to the establishment of a new branch that still exists today: the Paulus parish in Neukölln . There are further subsidiary congregations of this parish in the districts of Spandau , Wilmersdorf , Wedding , Steglitz , Zehlendorf and Marzahn .

On May 12th and 13th, 2010, the community celebrated its 175th anniversary with a ceremony and the exhibition of contemporary documents. Witnesses from the time of the Second World War up to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 were also heard .

Church building

View into the nave of the church with the altar by Wilhelm Groß

The church is a clinker facing building. On each side there are five arched windows by Charles Crodel , which show Christian symbols made of colored glass. In the altar area there are three more arched windows, also designed by Crodel in 1946, of which the middle one depicts the Luther rose . Since the Old Lutherans were forbidden to build church towers, only the middle section facing the street was raised slightly and the crucifix was attached to it. The original pulpit is still located inside the three-aisled building. The altar was designed by Wilhelm Groß after the war .

On October 31, 1864, the rectory and the school building were inaugurated, which were attached directly to the church on the left and right in a similar style. While the school building was badly damaged in the war and later demolished, the rectory was preserved. In 1888 a teacher's house was built on the courtyard behind the school, which is now used as a rental house.

organ

Lang & Dinse built the first instrument in 1857 with 23 voices on two manuals with one pedal . It was rebuilt several times in the following years. In 1990 and 1990, the Potsdam organ building firm Schuke removed the instrument and replaced it with a new mechanical structure with 30 voices. The original prospectus has been restored and has been preserved. A documentation of the originally installed Dinse organ is no longer available. However, the disposition could be reconstructed in 1912 from the cost estimates that were still available. Register 3, 15 and 16 have already been replaced:

I main manual C – f ³
1.	Bourdon	16 ′
2.	Principal	08th'
3.	Salicional (* viol 8 ′)	08th'
4th	Gemshorn	08th'
5.	Dumped	08th'
6th	octave	04 ′
7th	Pointed flute	04 ′
8th.	Octave	02 ′
9.	Mixture II-IV
10.	Cornett IV (from c ¹ )
11.	Trumpet	08th'

II Upper manual C – f ³
12.	Dumped	16 ′
13.	Violin principal	08th'
14th	Reed flute	08th'
15th	Viol (* Aeoline 8 ′)	08th'
16.	Progressio harmonica (* concert flute 8 ′)	08th'
17th	Octave	04 ′
18th	Flauto dolce	04 ′

Pedal C – d ¹
19th	Principal	16 ′
20th	Sub bass	16 ′
21st	Violon	08th'
22nd	Octave	04 ′
23.	trombone	16 ′

In the 1910s, the parish found that the instrument was in need of extensive renovation. However, the negotiations with Dinse did not lead to a conclusion. The First World War and the Great Depression further delayed the work. Finally, in 1926, the organ building company Sauer under Oscar Walcker was commissioned with a conversion. He changed the disposition as follows:

I main manual C – g ³
1.	Bourdon	16 ′
2.	Principal (prospectus)	08th'
3.	Viol	08th'
4th	Hollow flute	08th'
5.	Dumped	08th'
6th	Dulciana	08th'
7th	Octave (brochure)	04 ′
8th.	Pointed flute	04 ′
9.	octave	02 ′
10.	Cornett mixture IV
11.	Trumpet	08th'

II upper manual C-g ³
12.	Lovely Gedackt	16 ′
13.	Violin principal	08th'
14th	Concert flute	08th'
15th	Quintatön	08th'
16.	Vox coelestis	08th'
17th	Aeolines	08th'
18th	Fugara	04 ′
19th	Flauto dolce	04 ′
20th	Flautino	02 ′
21st	Harmonia aetheria III
22nd	oboe	08th'

Pedal C – f ¹
23.	Principal	16 ′
24.	Sub bass	16 ′
25th	Subtle bass	16 ′
26th	Violon	08th'
27.	Bass flute (= 18)	08th'
28.	octave	04 ′
29	trombone	16 ′

Coupling : II / I, I / P, II / P, super-octave coupling II and II P, sub-octave coupling II

As a playing aid he continued to build in piano, mezzoforte, forte, tutti and a free combination. In addition, the organ received tubular sills for the entire work and louvre sills for the second manual.

During the Second World War, the instrument was slightly damaged and could be repaired by the Berlin organ builder Fuchs with little money. Nevertheless, weather conditions and heavy pollution made a revision necessary: Stone mills were working in the vicinity of the church to remove the rubble. Their dust was deposited on the organ. In 1955 and 1956, another renovation took place, this time by the company Hermann Eule Orgelbau Bautzen :

I main manual C – g ³
1.	Ged. Pomm	16 ′
2.	Principal	08th'
3.	Wooden flute	08th'
4th	octave	08th'
5.	Pointed flute	04 ′
6th	Fifth	02 ² ⁄ ₃  ′
7th	octave	02 ′
8th.	Forest flute	02 ′
9.	third	01 ³ ⁄ ₅  ′
10.	Mixture IV
11.	Trumpet	08th'

II upper manual C-g ³
12.	Dumped	16 ′
13.	Quintatön	08th'
14th	Salicional	08th'
15th	Principal	04 ′
16.	Reed flute	04 ′
17th	Nasat	02 ² ⁄ ₃  ′
18th	Pointed octave	02 ′
19th	Sif flute	01'
20th	Sesquialtera II
21st	Zimbel III
22nd	oboe	08th'

Pedal C-f
23.	Principal	16 ′
24.	Sub bass	16 ′
25th	Octave bass	08th'
26th	Bass flute	08th'
27.	octave	04 ′
28.	Rauschpfeife IV
29	trombone	16 ′

Coupling: II / I, I / P, II / P, Sub II, Super II, Super II / P (as seesaw and steps)

The scope of the work was to be carried out in two construction phases: First the cleaning of the pipes was planned, then the reconditioning and re-tuning of 19 registers. The pneumatic tube fracture should be repaired from 1958. It was also planned that the wind chest should have a new membrane and the valves should be made of special leather. This work was no longer carried out and resulted in increasing instability of the instrument. Since the necessary funds were not available, the organ could not be repaired at first. A small Schuke organ was therefore used for the service from 1980:

I Manual C-g ³
1.	Dumped	8th'
2.	Reed flute	4 ′
3.	Principal	2 ′
4th	Fifth	1 ¹ ⁄ ₃  ′

Pedal C-f

The parish did not want to be satisfied with this situation and called for donations. In 1982 around 17,000 marks were raised. First estimates were based on an investment volume of around 139,000 marks. However, the monetary, economic and social union after the political change made the austerity efforts to blame for the time being. With the help of a loan it was still possible to put another Schuke organ into operation in 1991 at special conditions.

I main manual C – g ³
1.	Dumped	16 ′
2.	Principal	08th'
3.	Reed flute	08th'
4th	Viol	08th'
5.	octave	04 ′
6th	Pointed flute	04 ′
7th	Hollow fifth	02 ² ⁄ ₃  ′
8th.	Gemshorn	02 ′
9.	Mixture IV-V	2 ² ⁄ ₃  ′ + 1 ³ ⁄ ₅  ′
10.	Trumpet	08th'

II substation in the sill C – g ³
11.	Dumped	8th'
12.	Quintadena	8th'
13.	Salicional	8th'
14th	Principal	4 ′
15th	Night horn	4 ′
16.	Nassat	2 ² ⁄ ₃  ′
17th	Forest flute	2 ′
18th	third	1 ³ ⁄ ₅  ′
20th	Sif flute	1'
21st	Scharff III – IV	1'
21st	oboe	8th'

Pedal C – f ¹
22nd	Principal	16 ′
23.	Sub bass	16 ′
24.	octave	08th'
25th	Bass flute	08th'
26th	octave	08th'
27.	Back set IV	02 ² ⁄ ₃  ′
28.	trombone	16 ′
29	Trumpet	08th'
30th	Clairon	04 ′

Coupling: II / I, I / P, II / P

literature

Johannes Stier: 100 years of the Lutheran Church in Berlin. 1835-1935. Luth. Book Association, Breslau 1935 (117 pages).
The church council, Ewald Schlechter (Ed.): 1857–2007. 150 years of the Evangelical Lutheran Church . Annenstrasse, Berlin-Mitte 2007.
Journal of Practical Architecture 17 . tape 17 , 1857, pp. 344 .
Berlin and its buildings . tape I / II , 1877, pp. 137 f .
Luisenstadt. A home book . German publishing house for youth and people, Berlin 1927, p. 91 .

Web links

Commons : Evangelical Lutheran Church Berlin (Berlin-Luisenstadt) - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

^ List, map, database / Landesdenkmalamt Berlin. Retrieved June 21, 2020 .

52.506944444444 13.415555555556Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 25 ″ N , 13 ° 24 ′ 56 ″ E

[1] List, map, database / Landesdenkmalamt Berlin. Retrieved June 21, 2020 .