Prayer room in the Reichstag building
The prayer room in the Reichstag building is a reflection room set up in 1998 and 1999 for members of the German Bundestag in Berlin . The design comes from Günther Uecker .
Location, space and objects
The prayer room is located on the southeastern first floor of the Reichstag building between the staircase , elevators and toilet . In the anteroom there are ritual objects of different religions in an illuminated showcase. Bundestag President Norbert Lammert received an elaborately designed Bible from the Catholic and Protestant Church especially for the prayer room . It is in a compartment in the entrance area. The shelf there was supposed to hold liturgical objects from all world religions.
An east-facing staircase shows supporters of the three monotheistic world religions Judaism , Christianity and Islam the way to Jerusalem and Mecca . Toward the front of the room there is a sandblasted altar of granite . Specially designed benches and chairs complete the space. The installation of a partition wall that is open to the interior created a contrast to Norman Foster's light-flooded architecture . The indirect light now gives the impression of an early medieval crypt .
A total of seven panels were designed by Uecker in his special style with a variety of nails, paint, sand, stones and ash and leaned against the wall. A plaque on the front wall suggests a cross through the shape of the nails ; This also made it possible to dispel the initial criticism of some MPs about the missing cross within the room.
The boards are not anchored or fastened in any way and are intended to bring the devout person closer to his homelessness in this world without confessional confinement.
The chest organ in the prayer room was built by the organ building company Karl Schuke (Berlin) based on a design by Prof. Günther Uecker. In the closed case, which has no visible pipe prospect, there are four stops that are largely made of wood (Gedackt 8 ', Reed Flute 4', Principal 2 ', Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3 ').
use
Invited by the bells of Cologne Cathedral transferred from the tape, ten to fifteen people gather in the prayer room for a Christian morning prayer on Thursdays at 8:40 a.m. The devotion is held alternately by a Protestant and a Catholic theologian. During the prayer, the congregation sing two songs. Furthermore, a psalm and the Lord's Prayer are prayed together. With a short sermon the clergyman gets in the mood for the beginning of the day. In the 1960s in Bonn there were still around 120 members who gathered for a prayer. Since the number was steadily decreasing, the prayer was opened over time to the administration, parliamentary groups and members of the parliament, so that around 15 people attend the prayer today.
literature
- German Bundestag (ed.): The German Bundestag in the Reichstag building. Section “Art in the Reichstag - Günther Ücker” . 2010.
- Günther Uecker: The prayer room in the Reichstag building . callidus Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-940677-40-2 .
- Michael F. Feldkamp : “Luxury of Silence” - sacred space in parliament . In: Hermann-Josef Scheidgen , Sabine Prorok and Helmut Rönz with the participation of Reimund Haas (ed.): Church and society in the course of times. Festschrift for Gabriel Adriányi on his 75th birthday. Nordhausen 2012, p. 459–467 (abridged version as an online contribution ).
Individual evidence
- ^ Günther Uecker - "Prayer room" in the Reichstag building. German Bundestag. Archived from the original on September 18, 2014 ; Retrieved September 18, 2014 .
- ^ Chest organ in the German Bundestag. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013 ; Retrieved August 29, 2011 .
Coordinates: 52 ° 31 ′ 7 ″ N , 13 ° 22 ′ 34 ″ E