Reformation Church (Berlin)

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Reformation Church, Beussel and Wiclefstrasse

The Reformation Church is a Protestant church in the Berlin district of Moabit , which was built on Beusselstrasse at the beginning of the 20th century. The church tower, originally provided with a steep helmet and only simply restored after war damage, dominates the cityscape in western Moabit, the so-called Beusselkiez. The church as well as the adjacent parish and parish houses are under monument protection and are located in the area of ​​the church district Berlin Stadtmitte of the Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia (EKBO). Since 2011, the church has been part of the Reformation Church who operates a culture and event center there.

history

Building the church

After the parish of the Heilandskirche had become independent in 1896, the establishment of a second branch church in Moabit was recognized as necessary as early as 1901 . The number of community members, 45,000 when it was founded, had risen to 70,000 in 1904. The goal of the new church building: "In the immediate vicinity of large industrial plants, in the midst of the work and toil of the day, like a holy finger of God, she would point out the one thing that is needy."

Dedicated inscription by Empress Auguste Victoria in the altar bible she donated

The search for a building site dragged on because Beusselstrasse was hardly built on around 1900. A coal field on a corner property was up for sale at a reasonable price, but the examination committee rejected it as unsuitable. The search was continued in Rostocker and Sickingenstrasse. In the latter, the building site would have been free, but the church would then have belonged to the Charlottenburg district. So the commission decided in favor of the 1849.76 m² corner property at Beusselstrasse 35 and Wiclefstrasse 33–35. This had meanwhile been sold and already partially excavated for a residential building. The commission saw no other solution than to buy the property from the new owner for the high price of 244,000  marks .

The building costs of the church were to be covered by the municipal authorities according to plans . The magistrate refused and lodged a complaint with the Minister for Spiritual Affairs . The latter decided on May 10, 1904 that the city of Berlin should bear the costs. The Heilandsgemeinde then arranged for construction to begin and chose a date for the laying of the foundation stone . Surprisingly, however, the magistrate once again lodged an objection, which the Supreme Court approved. Work on the foundation of the church was then stopped. Construction work only continued when the City Synodal Association approved the first funds in the spring of 1905.

After this protracted conflict over financing, the foundation stone for the building of the Reformation Church was finally laid on September 28, 1905. The original plans came from the royal building officer and master builder Ernst Schwartzkopff , who died shortly after the foundation stone was laid. After his death, August Dinklage and Ernst Paulus fundamentally revised the designs. Two years later the general superintendent Wilhelm Faber inaugurated the parish church on February 17, 1907 in the presence of the imperial couple. On this occasion, Empress Auguste Victoria donated an altar Bible with silver-plated fittings to the church . The personal dedication reads:

“The Reformation Church in Berlin for its inauguration on February 17, 1907 - Ps. 139.23.24: Explore me, God, and experience my heart; Test me and experience how I mean it and see whether I am on an evil path and guide me on an eternal path. - Auguste Victoria I. Reg. "

Two months after the inauguration, the deed of foundation to the Berlin consistory and the police president followed, but work on the parish and community houses continued until 1910.

Destruction and rebuilding

Reformation church with a destroyed spire, around 1950

On the night of November 22nd to 23rd, 1943, incendiary bombs broke through the roof of the church and the rectory. Pastor Max Steinke was killed trying to extinguish the fire in the church. The burning spire fell on Wiclefstrasse and the rectory burned to the ground. The steel roof structure of the church withstood the bombs. The parts of the parish hall that were not destroyed were later occupied by bombed out people and refugees.

The construction work after the end of World War II was slow due to stolen or confiscated building materials and delayed deliveries. The topping-out ceremony was celebrated in October 1948 . 24,000  new bricks had been laid on the old roof structure - but not properly, so that the bricks were swept from the roof in stronger storms. A monetary donation from the Missouri Synod , the sale of building blocks and grants from the Synodal Association finally enabled the interior of the church and a permanent installation of the roof tiles. On October 29, 1950, the Reformation Church was inaugurated again with a capacity of 1200 seats. The external war damage was completely removed by 1953 and the tower was rebuilt in a simplified manner - but only with a height of 50 meters, which meant that the church lost its dominating effect. The spire was replaced by a narrow roof turret. In 1957, donations were used to purchase a replacement for the clock that was destroyed when the tower tower collapsed.

In 1970 a new six-storey community center with apartments and a community hall was added to the old part of the community center under Peter Lehrercke and Siegfried Radtke , and a low-rise building was built for a kindergarten and day-care center. Lehrcke had also planned a comprehensive redesign of the church interior. The plan was to remove the existing side galleries and the chapel below on Wiclefstrasse in order to instead build a new gallery further in the middle of the church and to make space for a winter church on the previous organ gallery. These reconstruction plans, which had already been decided, were stopped in 1968 by the Synodal Association. Instead of the planned complete reconstruction only the previous solid was 1,974 stalls floor heating is removed, installed, and a round altar erected in the middle of the church hall, around which a circular seating arranges itself. The pulpit , altar and seating were not firmly anchored and can therefore be moved or removed. This redesign should make the church usable for events such as the Moabiter Musiktage .

The side chapel was used from 1976 to 1998 as the St. Antonius and St. Shenouda chapel by the Coptic Orthodox Congregation in Berlin .

In 2004, the Reformation parish merged with the former mother parish, the Heilandsgemeinde , to form the parish of Moabit West . The Sunday service remained poorly attended with three to ten believers in the period that followed. In November 2004, a fire also damaged the community center and operating costs have increased significantly in recent years. For this reason, the parish council did not allow any services to take place in the Reformation Church in the winter of 2006/2007 - with the exception of the Christmas holidays .

Current situation

Concert on April 30th 2012 with the Cantorei of the Reformation Church

Since April 2011, the church and adjacent buildings have been used by the convent at the Reformation Church . Since then, regular services and cultural events have taken place in the Reformation Church on Sundays at 5 p.m. Since 2005, the church has also hosted the Long Night of Choirs every year in late summer . Parts of the parish hall adjoining the church have served as a rehearsal location and venue for the Berlin Youth Theater Office since 2010 .

Building description

Interior in summer 2012
Detail photo of a capital
Leaf capital with wine and Luther rose

After the original construction plans were modified by the architects August Dinklage and Ernst Paulus , a neo - Gothic three - aisled hall church with a wide transept, a polygonal choir with a five-eighth end and a square corner tower was created. With front lengths of 32.00 meters on Beussel and 54.68 meters on Wiclefstraße, the complex covers an area of ​​1228.07 m². The parish and parish houses, which were only completed in 1910 and lead over to the closed development with residential buildings on Beussel and Wiclefstrasse, also belong to the construction group. In the spirit of the times, an irregular group of buildings was created, which tried to give the impression of a historically grown complex. In the uniform cladding of the buildings with red facing bricks and the rather restrained neo-Gothic elements, the church building echoes historicism.

The originally 82 meter high tower on a square floor plan dominates the complex as well as the street space. In the Second World War it lost its extraordinarily steep and high tower helmet and, during the simplified reconstruction in 1953, received a simple cross roof between the tower gables with a small, copper roof turret. This simplified restoration affects the dominant position of the tower. The balconies of the church tower at the height of the main cornice of the nave grow on consoles from the glare fields. Above this are the sound windows filled with simple tracery and five ogival glare fields in the wall zone above under the gable . The gilded dials and hands of the tower clock stand out against this background of white plastered surfaces and red bricks.

Pointed, white plastered glare fields and a large round window characterize the front of the nave in the west facing Beusselstrasse. The identically designed front of the transept in the south facing Wiclefstrasse only steps slightly in front of the wall of the nave , which is structured by buttresses and pointed arched windows with tracery . The main entrance to the church is formed by a double portal on the west facade, which is combined by a pinnacle . In its arched field, a statue of the reformer Martin Luther made of Silesian marble refers to the Reformation and thus to the name of the church.

The three church windows in the choir originally showed the Transfiguration of Christ in the middle, flanked by the resurrection of Lazarus and a representation of Mary and Martha. Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon as well as important sites from the history of the Reformation were depicted in the lead-glazed window rosettes on the side . Below the choir arch there were larger than life images of the apostles Peter and Paul and in the choir room of the apostles James and John . After the war damage in 1943, the architects Heinrich Brokerhoff and Walter Jarchow purified the interior during the reconstruction by plastering the painted wall surfaces and gallery parapets smoothly and replacing the windows in simpler forms. Only small remains of the original glazing have been preserved (illustration of the Wittenberg Castle in the south rosette and the Augsburg town hall in the west rosette behind the organ).

Organs

Kleuker organ from 1968

The Reformation Church currently has two organs : the main organ with 36 registers , which in 1968 by the organ builder Detlef Kleuker was built (Bielefeld), as well as the south of the choir built choir organ of the organ builder GF Steinmeyer & Co .

Original organ

When it was inaugurated in 1907, the Reformation Church had a Walcker organ with 42 registers placed on the gallery (Opus 1321 by E. F. Walcker & Cie). After war-related damage , the instrument could only be partially restored at the end of the war and was replaced by a completely new building from 1964. Four registers from the original organ were transferred to the choir organ in 1966.

Main organ

The organ, built by Detlef Kleuker in 1968 , has 36 registers on three manuals and a pedal . The planning comes from Traugott Fedtke . The angular housing in a reduced design language with its visible swell box is typical of Kleuker's organs, the asymmetrical structure is based on the design specifications of Peter Lehrcke .

I breastwork (swellable) C – g 3
Singing dumped 8th'
Pipe clamp 4 ′
Principal 2 ′
recorder 1'
Terzian II 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
Zimbel III 1 ⁄ 2 ′
Wooden crumhorn 8th'
Tremulant
II Hauptwerk C – g 3
Reed flute 16 ′
Prefix 08th'
Dumped 08th'
Hollow flute 04 ′
Sesquialtera II 02 2 ⁄ 3  ′
Super octave 02 ′
Mixture VI 01 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Trumpet 08th'
III Swell C – g 3
Coupling flute 08th'
Harp pipe 08th'
Ital. Principal 04 ′
Chamois flute 04 ′
Forest flute 02 ′
Sif flute 01 1 ⁄ 3  ′
Sextan II 01 1 ⁄ 7  ′
Scharff V 01'
Bärpfeiffe 16 ′
French oboe 08th'
Schalmey 04 ′
Tremulant
Pedals C – f 1
Principal 16 ′
Pedestal 16 ′
octave 08th'
Reed flute 08th'
Capstan whistle 04 ′
Pipe whistle 02 ′
Mixture VI 04 ′
trombone 16 ′
Bright trumpet 04 ′
Tremulant
  1. ↑ Pending

Choir organ

Prospectus of the choir organ

The choir organ was built in 1930 as Opus 1539 by the organ builder G. F. Steinmeyer & Co. for the parish hall of the Petrus Church (Berlin-Lichterfelde) . Brokered by the architect Peter Lehrcke , it was given to the Reformation Church community in 1966 and, modified by the Stephan Orgelbau company , built into the former stairwell south of the Reformation Church's chancel. Of its now 18 registers, four were taken from the original Walcker organ of the Reformation Church.

I main work C–
Principal 8th'
Gemshorn 8th'
octave 4 ′
Pointed flute 4 ′
Principal 2 ′
Mixture IV 2 ′
II upper structure C–
Dumped 8th'
Unda maris II 8th'
Praestant 4 ′
recorder 2 ′
Sif flute 1'
Cymbel IV 1'
Krummhorn 8th'
Pedal C–
Sub bass 16 ′
Octave bass 08th'
Reed flute 04 ′
Flat flute 02 ′
Back set IV 04 ′

Bells

View of the bell chamber

The Reformation Church has a three-part ringing made of cast steel bells , which were installed in the bell room with a square floor plan (side length 5.66 m). Two of the bells date from the time the church was built and were cast in 1905 by the Bochum Association . Both carry the reference to the foundry on their shoulders: “GEG. FROM BOCHUMER ASSOCIATION F. CAST STEEL FABRICATION, 1905 ”. There are also Bible verses referring to the Reformation on the flanks. On the later renewed bell, which was cast in 1922 in the art and bell foundry Lauchhammer , there is no manufacturer reference on the shoulder. The production of the 3-ring bell including the clapper, axles, bearings and bell levers cost the community 5,363  marks .

The larger of the two bells with the verse “The word of the Lord abides forever” is a motto of Luther ( 1. Peter 1.25  EU ); the smaller one (870 kg) contains the verse “The righteous will live his faith” ( Galatians 3:11  EU ).

The third and largest of the original bells with a lower diameter of 1673 mm, which bore the inscription “ A strong castle is our god ”, was so badly damaged when the tower tower collapsed in 1943 that it was scrapped after the Second World War and was bought bell that matched the sound had to be replaced. It is also a steel bell with a weight of 2700 kg, made in 1922 in the Lauchhammer art and bell foundry

Bell plan
Bell jar Chime Weight
(kg)		 Diameter (
mm)		 Height
(mm)		 inscription
1. ges' 0870 1260 1120 THE RIGHT ONE WILL LIVE HIS FAITH.
2. it' 1080 1430 1275 THE WORD OF THE LORD IS FOREVER.
3. h ° 2700 1860 1400 LORD, HELP US. AD 1922.

The bells of the Reformation Church ring according to a fixed chime and invite you to celebrate the service, to pray and to intercede.

literature

  • Chronicle of the Protestant Reformation Church in Berlin-Moabit for the 100th anniversary of the best , published as typescript on the occasion of the 100th anniversary on June 10, 2007 and based on the chronicle for the 50th anniversary of 1957 and the chronicle for the 75th anniversary from 1980, updated by Klaus Balendat and Hartmann Bökenkamp.
  • Bettina Held: Ernst and Günther Paulus. Willmuth Arenhövel, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-922912-64-4 , pp. 144 f.
  • Günther Kühne, Elisabeth Stephani: Evangelical churches in Berlin. 2nd Edition. CZV-Verlag, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-7674-0158-4 , p. 275 f.
  • Richard Schneider (Hrsg.): Berlin - buildings of the neo-Gothic. Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin 1984, ISBN 3-87584-129-8 , pp. 51 and 112.
  • Jürgen Tomisch: Central district. Districts Moabit, Hansaviertel and Tiergarten. In: Landesdenkmalamt Berlin (Ed.): Monuments in Berlin. Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2005, ISBN 3-86568-035-6 , p. 290 f.
  • Klaus-Dieter Wille: The bells of Berlin (West). History and inventory. Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-7861-1443-9 , p. 97.
  • Irmgard Wirth (edit.): The buildings and art monuments of Berlin. Tiergarten district. Gebrüder Mann, Berlin 1955, p. 56 f.

Web links

Commons : Reformationskirche  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Covenant website
  2. ↑ certificate text quoted from Beusselkiez and Hutten island. Transit, Berlin 1993, p. 70, ISBN 3-88747-089-3 .
  3. ↑ http://www.luise-berlin.de/lexikon/mitte/r/reformationskirche.htm
  4. ↑ Young crew for the old nave . In: Der Tagesspiegel , April 23, 2011
  5. ↑ Long Night of Choirs ( Memento of the original from September 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of the Cantorei of the Reformation Church Berlin-Moabit @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cantorei.de
  6. ↑ Article on the work of the JugendtheaterBüro and the Festiwalla theater festival
  7. ↑ a b compilation of the bells delivered to Berlin and the surrounding area ; Bochum Association, around 1900. In the archive of the Köpenick Church of St. Josef, viewed on August 6, 2019.

Coordinates: 52 ° 31 ′ 52.5 ″  N , 13 ° 19 ′ 43.9 ″  E