Reithaus (Berlin)
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In the Baroque period , the Reithaus in Berlin was an "electoral long stable building" located in front of the western city wall. The Reithaus already existed during the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and was converted into a Franco-German double church in 1700–1701, which was replaced in 1831 by the Friedrichswerder Church by Karl Friedrich Schinkel .
Function of the riding house
The riding house served the Brandenburg electors as a stable building and also contained a covered riding arena. It was a very long (288 feet, about 90.4 m) but narrow building, facing north-south. During the Thirty Years War the building fell into disrepair and eventually had no roof. In 1648 the Elector Friedrich Wilhelm had it rebuilt in order to carry out the equestrian games (ring and fifth races, etc.) that had previously taken place on the lane at the castle. The engraving by Caspar Merian from 1652 shows the building in its renovated state ( see illustration ). On the north side of the building was a stair tower that allowed the upper floor to be reached.
Conversion to a double church
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As more and more people settled in the area around the Reithaus in front of the western city gates of Berlin in the following years, this area was raised in 1662 as " Friedrichswerder " to the third independent municipality next to Berlin and Cölln. From 1685 on, numerous French Huguenots who had come to Berlin as refugees settled here.
For decades, the new Friedrichswerder district did not have its own church. It was not until 1699 that the German and French communities of Friedrichswerder were assigned the old riding house for common use as a church by Elector Friedrich III., Later King Friedrich I. In order to make it usable for church purposes, the building was converted into a double church in 1700–1701 by the master builder Giovanni Simonetti according to a design by the building director Martin Grünberg . The old riding house was divided in the middle by an inner wall. The French Reformed community was housed in the northern part of the building and the German Protestant community in Friedrichswerder in the southern part.
Construction of the Friedrichswerder Church
In 1831 the Franco-German double church was replaced by a new building by the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel , the " Friedrichswerder Church ".
literature
- Johann Christian Gädicke: Lexicon of Berlin. Berlin 1806.
- CE Geppert: Chronicle of Berlin. Two volumes. Berlin 1839.
- Friedrich Nicolai: Description of the royal. Residence cities Berlin and Potsdam. Berlin and Stettin 1786. Three volumes.