Luther Monument (Berlin, Marienkirche)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Luther monument on Neuer Markt , behind it the tower of the Red Town Hall , around 1900

The Luther Monument was a multi-part monument honoring the reformer Martin Luther , designed by the sculptors Paul Otto and Robert Toberentz . The complex was inaugurated in 1895 on the Neuer Markt in the Marienviertel of old Berlin , in what is now the Mitte district . The figure of Martin Luther that remained after the war has been standing as a single figure on the north side of St. Mary's Church since 1989, very close to its original location on a base made of polished granite.

description

A foundation measuring around seven by seven meters stood at the corner of the Spandauer Straße Kaiser-Wilhelm-Straße intersection (today's Karl-Liebknecht-Straße ). The monument to Martin Luther was located on a stepped pedestal in the center of the raised area . The reformer was shown in a typical monk's habit with the open Bible in his hand and was placed on a high granite plinth. At Luther's feet, the artists had modeled accompanying figures in busy conversation, depicting co-reformers of the time: Philipp Melanchthon , Johannes Bugenhagen , Georg Spalatin , Caspar Cruciger , Johannes Reuchlin , Justus Jonas . The plateau was bordered by a broken stone wall and could only be reached via ten steps from Kaiser-Wilhelm-Straße. The stair stringers carried the sculptures by Ulrich von Hutten and Franz von Sickingen . The entire monument complex reached a height of around eight meters. The areas around the facility were decorated with green spaces on three sides, and at street level there was a paving mosaic in the access area .

history

Until the destruction in 1945

After the death of the sculptor Paul Otto , the Marien-Kirchengemeinde entrusted the sculptor Robert Toberentz with the completion of the Luther memorial with the three and a half meter high statue of the reformer and the accompanying figures of the co-reformers. The inauguration on the Neuer Markt took place on June 11, 1895. The city of Berlin had contributed 50,000 marks to the total costs of more than 200,000 marks. During the war years (1939–1945) the accompanying figures on the base of the monument were melted down for armament purposes. Shortly before the end of the war, bombs completely destroyed the Neuer Markt. The Luther figure was preserved and was initially installed in the Stephanus Foundation in Berlin-Weißensee .

Since the re-installation in 1989

The return of the monument to the north side of the Marienkirche near its original location on the Neuer Markt in the Marienviertel took place in October 1989, shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall .

On the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017, the Evangelical Church District Berlin Stadtmitte and the Senate of Berlin agreed to redesign the Luther monument using the original statue and the previously uncovered foundations for an estimated 900,000 euros. The winning design by the artist Albert Weis and the architects Zeller & Moye intends to copy the Luther figure and contrast it with the existing statue. The outline of the foundation is to be sunk by 0.5 meters into the ground and the floor area is to be laid out with concrete blocks, in which around 10,000 LED lights are embedded to reproduce quotations.

Bishop Dröge, who was a member of the jury, praised the design: “The new monument opens up new perspectives for the viewer. It is a reinterpretation of Luther and has significance for society today. ”Theologians and historians, on the other hand, criticized the fact that a doubled Luther figure made no sense. A Luther who quarreled with himself ran completely against the Reformation idea of ​​liberation, which was the completely wrong signal for the anniversary of the Reformation. So far (as of spring 2019) no construction activity has been identified, only the Luther statue has been moved to its original location, but without the historical base.

  • Marienkirche with Luther Monument, around 1900

  • Statue with an old base north of the Marienkirche (until 2017)

  • Statue with a new base west of the Marienkirche (since 2017)

Web links

Commons : Luther Monument  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Baedeker's travel guides. Berlin and the surrounding area ; 1902; Digitized extract
  2. ↑ a b Hans-Werner Klünner: Berlin squares. Photographs by Max Missmann , Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1996, ISBN 3-87584-610-9 ; P. 35.
  3. ↑ Klünner: Berliner Platz ... , p. 20.
  4. ↑ Uwe Aulich: Luther has time concerns. In: Berliner Zeitung , February 15, 2016, p. 12.
  5. ^ Berlin - dispute over a dazzling Luther memorial. Accessed April 12, 2019 (German).

Coordinates: 52 ° 31 ′ 14.8 "  N , 13 ° 24 ′ 26.5"  E