St. George's Church (Berlin)
St. George's Anglican Episcopal Church is the church of the Anglican congregation in Berlin . The church building from 1950 in the Berlin district of Neu-Westend replaces the previous building from 1885, which was destroyed in the war and which was located in the center of Berlin.
location
The church dedicated to Saint George stands on a rhomboid-shaped area of around 13,300 m². The area is bordered by Badenallee in the west and Preußenallee in the east. Directly to the north is the Catholic Adoration Monastery of St. Gabriel . In addition to the church building, there is also a community center on the site.
history
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First St. George's Church in Berlin
The first Anglican church services were held in Berlin as early as the 1830s. In 1855 the gatehouse of Monbijou Castle on Oranienburger Strasse served as the English Chapel. King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Also made the theater hall of the palace available for church services. Between 1884 and 1885, the growing congregation erected the first church building in Berlin, St. George's Anglican Church, on the grounds of Monbijou Castle under the patronage of the Prussian Crown Princess Victoria, who was born in England . The church was under royal protection and was financed from donations on the occasion of the silver wedding anniversary of the Prussian Crown Prince couple. Architect Julius Carl Raschdorff went on a study trip to England to familiarize himself with the Anglican church building. His design was realized with light-colored Silesian sandstone and blasted granite boulders, the roof covered with colored slate.
Queen Victoria attended church in 1888 . On May 25, 1913, King George V and his wife Mary attended a church service. St. George's was the only Anglican church in Germany to remain open during the First World War , as it was under the protection of Kaiser Wilhelm II .
In the 1920s and 1930s it was difficult to keep the church open, and the congregation had financial and livelihood worries. The Anglican community at that time included not only the British, but also Americans, Germans, Indians, Chinese, Finns and Russians. With the beginning of the Second World War , the church was closed and hit by Allied bombs in 1943 and 1944. In connection with the clearing of rubble from the city center of Berlin and after the division of Berlin in 1949, the GDR demolished the ruins of Monbijou Castle and thus also the church building.
New St. George's Church
A new St. George's Church was built in 1950 as a garrison church for the British military in the British sector . The pews are decorated with the military badges of all British regiments that had been in Berlin since 1945 and are part of the permanent inventory.
In 1987, the church silver originally donated by Crown Princess Victoria for the first St. George's Church was rediscovered in a Berlin cellar and returned to the community. It has been used in church services ever since.
Since the withdrawal of the Allies in 1994, St. George's Church has once again been a purely civilian church, which has been used by the Anglican congregation as well as by the congregation of the City Church Berlin International for their services and for TV productions ( Hope for Tomorrow ) from June 2012 becomes.
Architecture of the church building
The single-nave hall church has a deep saddle roof . The outwardly inconspicuous design corresponds with the likewise simple interior. The choir is visually separated from the main church area by a dark blue pointed arch and decorated with modern stained glass . Numerous memorial plaques and badges remind of the earlier military use of the church. The most noticeable feature are two historicist wheel chandeliers , which presumably come from the previous building from the 19th century.
organ
The organ in the gallery comes from the workshop of EF Walcker & Cie., Ludwigsburg (1965/66).
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Anglican community in Berlin in the 21st century
St. George's is part of the European Diocese of the Church of England within the Anglican Communion. The congregation celebrates English-language services with Anglican liturgy not only in St. George's Church, but also in the Marienkirche in Berlin-Mitte and in the Dresden Frauenkirche .
St. George's maintains close ecumenical relations with the other Christian churches in Berlin , especially with the Old Catholic and Lutheran churches. The congregation is a member of the Cross of Nails Community and, as a member of the Working Group of Christian Churches in Berlin-Brandenburg and the International Fellowship of Foreign Churches in Berlin, is committed to non-denominational concerns and the idea of reconciliation.
The congregation receives no church taxes and no grants from the Church of England. It is financed exclusively from the contributions of its members.
Web links
- Homepage of the St. George's Congregation
- Homepage of the City Church Berlin International in St. George's
- Entry in the Berlin State Monument List
Individual evidence
- ^ Name and location of the St. Gabriel Monastery on Kauperts; Retrieved October 25, 2010
- ↑ a b Prussian Churches / St. Georg's Chapel ( Memento of the original from January 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on preußen.de
- ^ Laying of the foundation stone on May 24, 1884 In: Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung , No. 22, May 31, 1884, p. 224, accessed on December 30, 2012.
- ^ U. Daniel / CK Frey (ed.), The Prussian-Welf Wedding 1913: The dynastic Europe in its last year of peace. Braunschweig 2016. p. 87.
- ↑ a b c d The St. George's Church in Berlin (English)
- ↑ Information about the events of St. George's Church
- ^ Congregational life / church activities
Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 44.3 " N , 13 ° 15 ′ 31.2" E