Berlin suburban churches

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As Berliner Vorstadtkirchen or Schinkelsche Vorstadtkirchen four classical church buildings are called, which were designed and built by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in the 1830s . They were built when Berlin expanded rapidly in the course of industrialization and new settlement areas were assigned to the north of the city. Three of the churches have largely been preserved, the Elizabeth Church, which was badly damaged in World War II , is currently being renovated.

history

One of Schinkel's original designs from 1828 envisaged a circular building with a dome. Caption: "View of the church in the Oranienburger Vorstadt near Berlin, based on the design N ° IV."

The Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. originally wanted the construction of only two churches in the north of Berlin, which would have become very large for this. They should have 2,500 to 3,000 seats and would have far exceeded the dimensions of the then cathedral and the Friedrichswerder Church, which was still under construction . Schinkel received the building contract in 1828 and submitted five designs, including that of an unusual cylindrical structure with a dome.

However, the expected construction costs would have been too high. With the construction of smaller churches not only could the construction costs be reduced, but one also came close to the ideal of a dense and spatially close pastoral care of the population. It was Schinkel himself who proposed the downsizing of the designs that the king had finally decided on. In 1832 it was decided to build a total of four churches. The Elizabeth Church was already being built at the time, so it is slightly larger than the three other churches, which were designed to be smaller again with the decision to increase the number. After the construction work had progressed rapidly, the suburban churches were completed in 1835 and handed over to their intended purpose.

Architectural concept

All four churches are based on an identical, simple concept, since the king asked above all inexpensive and unadorned functional buildings for the proletarian population of the newly opened suburbs. Towers and elaborate facades had to be dispensed with (the Johannis and Paulskirche each received a separate bell tower afterwards ). Despite the financial restrictions, Schinkel managed to find interesting and architecturally formative solutions. He varied the identical basic plan of a hall building on a rectangular floor plan with different window shapes, the attachment of columned halls and the fact that two churches were plastered, while the bricks remained visible in the other two.

List of churches

literature

  • Christiane Segers bell : Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The former Berlin suburban churches of St. Johannes, Nazareth, St. Elisabeth and St. Paul (= great architectural monuments . Issue 331). Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich et al. 1981.
  • Martin Steffens: KF Schinkel. 1781-1841. A builder in the service of beauty. Taschen, Cologne et al. 2003, ISBN 3-8228-2443-7 .