Marienkirche (Berlin-Mitte)

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View of the church building from the southeast
Background noise in the church

The Protestant Marienkirche ( church district Berlin Stadtmitte ) is located on Karl-Liebknecht-Straße in the park by the television tower in the Berlin district of Mitte , near Alexanderplatz . It is the oldest city parish church in Berlin that is still used sacred , one of originally six medieval church buildings in the historic center of Berlin , in the formerly densely built-up Marienviertel .

Building history

Square at the armory with a view of Unter den Linden ,
painting by Carl Traugott Fechhelm
1788: View of the old cathedral , left the armory , in the middle the Marienkirche, right the city ​​palace


On January 3, 1292 the church was first mentioned as a parish church ( ecclesia St. Marie virginis = Church of the Holy Virgin Mary), according to architecture experts it was built around 1270. It is located in Berlin's Neustadt on the Neuer Markt - not far from the older one old town parish church of St. Nicolai . The foundation walls of the Marienkirche are made of field stones , over which a hall church made of red bricks was built in the style of the Brandenburg brick Gothic . The 48 meter high spire has a substructure made of Rüdersdorfer shell limestone . After fire damage, the parish renewed the tower structure in 1663–1666 according to plans and under the direction of Michael Mathias Smids in the Baroque style .

A comprehensive restoration and redesign of the sacred building took place in 1893–1895 by Hermann Blankenstein . After the war damage of the Second World War had been repaired , the GDR had the building restored again in 1969/1970 as part of the complete redesign of Alexanderplatz and its surroundings. At that time, u. a. the entrance portals made of spatially driven copper by the Berlin blacksmith and metal sculptor Achim Kühn . The cross symbol is artistically incorporated into the portals.

In 1938, the Protestant community of Berlin ceded the Nikolaikirche to the city of Berlin, making the Marienkirche the oldest preaching place in Berlin. After the Second World War, it was one of the few large churches that could still be used.

Since the end of the 20th century, the Marienkirche has been the preaching site of the Evangelical Church Community of St. Petri-St. Marien, at the same time a prominent event location of the church district Berlin Stadtmitte and the Berlin regional church as well as a place for university church services , ecumenical church services and church music events. The organ concert with Bible readings on Christmas Eve around 10 p.m. has a special tradition . In the GDR in the 1980s, participation in it was seen as a commitment by the intellectual blues scene to the peace movement ( swords to plowshares ).

After the war destruction and the extensive redesign of Berlin's city center in the area between the Stadtbahn , Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse, Rathausstrasse and the Spree in the 1960s, the Marienkirche has been in a completely different urban development situation since the beginning of the 21st century . While it still dominated the densely built-up urban space on the former Neuer Markt until 1945, it now stands as a solitary building in a spacious open space surrounded by multi-storey new buildings, which is dominated by the television tower opened in 1969 . After the old buildings in their vicinity that were not destroyed during the war were demolished and the medieval town plan abandoned, the Marienkirche in this area is the only visible reminder that the historic city center of Berlin is located here .

The church building is at the original height of the medieval floor level. The difference of around 1.50 meters that was felt at the entrance for decades can be traced back to a landfill during the GDR era. During redesign work in the area around the church in 2014–2017, the original ground level location of the church was made clearer again by partially lowering the floor.

architecture

Nave

Gothic main portal with gates made of embossed copper and integrated cross symbolism by Achim Kühn

The church building is a three-aisled hall church . In addition to the single-nave choir with a well-preserved star vault , it has a crypt with a two-storey crypt chapel . The nave has octagonal and bundled pillars , the capitals of which show no ornamentation. It is spanned by a cross and mesh vault.

Church tower and bells

The west tower was started in the early 15th century after an earlier tower collapsed. Building research was able to differentiate between five medieval construction phases. The substructure - about as wide as the ship and also with three aisles, but slightly offset to the north - was erected at a distance of over two meters from the nave and was only connected to it after completion. The masonry of the tower is double-shell. On the outside, the lower area consists of field stones with brick edges , and in the upper area of Rüdersdorfer shell limestone . The interior masonry, on the other hand, is largely made of brick below and entirely of brick above. The window frames on the lower limestone floor are also made of limestone, and all the rest of the walls are made of brick. The medieval west portal was replaced by a neo-Gothic one in the 19th century , which was freed from some historical flourishes during the renovation of the church after the Second World War (see web link ).

In the years 1789 and 1790 the church was extensively redesigned. The tower was awarded to a design by Carl Gotthard Langhans a spire in the neo-Gothic style and its current total of approximately 90 m. The construction management was done by Carl Samuel Held and Georg Friedrich Boumann .

The church has five church bells with the striking tones g 0 , h 0 , c sharp 1 , e 1 and e 2 . The four large bells hang on cranked yokes .

Interior

The dance of death

Berlin dance of death, unfinished 3D reconstruction

One of the most important surviving medieval works of art in Berlin is the dance of death fresco in the tower hall of the church.

The 22.6 meter long and two meter high mural shows a group of clerical and secular representatives who are in a step dance, each with a death figure. The representation goes back to templates from previously created dances of death in Lübeck and possibly also in Hamburg. There is no written record of the origin of the fresco . Therefore, an attempt has been made to gain information about its origin through detailed investigations of the artwork. Various conclusions allow it to be dated to around the plague year 1484.

The peculiarity of the depiction lies in its geometric arrangement, which extends from the west entrance, then angled over the pillar, the west wall and the north wall almost into the church. The clerical and secular representatives are separated by a crucifixion scene, which forms the center of the representation. The corresponding text verses represent the oldest Berlin poetry. In the verses the representatives of the estates complain of their suffering and ask death for a delay. The verses are in the Low German language , which the Berliners still spoke into modern times, and contain a Franciscan worldview, which is also reflected in the separation of spiritual and secular representatives. The dance itself is opened by a preaching Franciscan - therefore, the artist of the mural commissioned by the Berlin bourgeoisie is assumed to be a Franciscan. This assumption is confirmed by the fact that construction work was carried out on the Gray Monastery of the Franciscans in Berlin during this period .

The dance of death was probably in the Reformation time whitewashed with lime and only in 1861 by the court architect Friedrich August Stüler rediscovered. Today the mural is in poor condition. The image has faded a lot due to the moisture in the masonry and is protected by a glass wall.

altar

View into the choir room
View of the pulpit

The high altar was created around 1762 by Andreas Krüger in the Baroque style. With its monumental size, it separates the polygon from the rest of the choir so that it can be used as a sacristy. The altar is decorated with three paintings by Bernhard Rode, framed by composite columns . On the left is Jesus' prayer on the Mount of Olives, on the right the scene of Thomas putting his fingers into Christ's side wound. Above the central image of the Descent from the Cross, in the gable of the altar, rises a plastic representation of a reclining Salvator , leaning on his cross , who is venerated by two angels.

After the Second World War, numerous works of art from the destroyed Nikolaikirche and the also destroyed Franciscan monastery church ended up in the Marienkirche. A St. Mary's altar from the Franciscan Church from around 1520 was lent to the Stift zum Heiligengrabe monastery in 2004 with the approval of the Monument Office . After a public debate about the loan agreement, which was initially concluded for an indefinite period, the return of the altar to Berlin was contractually stipulated and the loan agreement was correspondingly limited in time. In February 2014 the altar was still in Heiligengrabe.

Baptismal font, pulpit, miscellaneous

View into the nave to the pulpit and main altar

In front of the altar, in the middle of the chancel, is the Gothic baptismal font , a bronze cast from 1437. It stands on four feet, worked out like dragons. The body is adorned by 16 relief-like saints, which stand in tracery arches.

Artistically outstanding is the alabaster pulpit , which was created in 1702/1703 by Andreas Schlüter and to which all the benches in the nave are aligned. The pulpit, which seems to float between two angels, is attached to four marble columns with gilded Ionic capitals that interrupt the original, Gothic pillar . Between them the preacher can enter the pulpit. The baldachin-like sound cover is adorned with a glory with numerous putti and trumpet angels who venerate the Holy Scriptures.

The skills of old masters of blacksmithing can be seen in the form of some of the extremely rare, originally preserved forged renaissance grids of Berlin in the interior and exterior of the church building.

The tomb of General Field Marshal Otto Christoph von Sparr was created in 1663 by Artus Quellinus I from Antwerp .

In front of the west facade, an atonement cross commemorates the assassination of provost Nikolaus von Bernau in 1325 as a member of Pope Johannes XXII. by the citizens of Berlin and Cölln (see also here )

Carl Hildebrand Freiherr von Canstein , the founder of the oldest biblical institute in the world, the Canstein Biblical Institute , was buried in the church in 1719.

organ

Wagner Kern organ in the Marienkirche in Berlin
Organ console

The organ of the Marienkirche was created 1720–1722 by Joachim Wagner , who had previously worked for two years with his teacher Gottfried Silbermann . The inauguration took place in 1723 . The case comes from Johann Georg Glume and was completed by Paul de Ritter in 1742. In the period that followed, the instrument was changed several times. For example, in 1800 Friedrich Falckenhagen had 1400 of a total of 2556 organ pipes removed according to plans by Georg Joseph Vogler , as they were "superfluous" in his opinion. Further modifications, also to restore the sound range, took place in 1829 by Johann Simon Buchholz and in 1893/1894 by Heinrich Schlag & Sons. Wilhelm Sauer increased the number of votes to 57 and built a cone shop with a pneumatic tube.

As one of the few organs, the “most beautiful organ in Berlin” largely survived the destruction of the Second World War. In the period after 1945 the instrument was changed several times. In the years 1947–1949, the Alexander Schuke organ building workshop replaced the pneumatic action with an electro-pneumatic one and brought the disposition closer to the baroque sound principle. Further changes took place in 1957, 1970 and 1985 with the same aim of further approximation to the original sound image.

When severe damage to the organ was discovered in the winter of 1996, instead of a reconstruction of the original condition, the municipality decided to build a new building, which was carried out in 2002 by the organ building workshop Alfred Kern & Söhne ( Strasbourg ) in accordance with Wagner's overall concept and disposition from 1721 has been.

In the new building, all of Wagner's 40 registers were faithfully reconstructed using the historical pipes that were still in existence , as was the baroque case prospect by the Berlin sculptors Johann Georg Glume and Paul de Ritter, while retaining the historic changes from 1908. All ducts, wind chests and the bellows are accurate Manufactured based on the original Wagner organs.

Compared to Wagner, the arrangement of the manuals and the expansion of the range of keys in the manuals up to f 3 have been changed to adapt to today's musical practice . A historical tuning was set (Neidhardt III), but with a modern pitch of 440  Hz . Finally, the organ received five additional registers, which are, however, faithfully reproduced in Wagner organs. A pedal coupler has been added.

I main work C – f 3
01. Drone 16 ′
02. Principal 08th'
03. Pipe flute 08th'
04th Viole di gambe 08th'
05. Octav 04 ′
06th Pointed flute 04 ′
07th Qvinta 03 ′
08th. Octav 02 ′
09. Scharff V 01 1 ⁄ 2  ′
10. Cimbel III 01'
11. Cornet V (from c 1 ) 08th'
12. bassoon 16 ′ N
13. Trumpet 08th'
II Oberwerk C – f 3
14th Principal 08th'
15th Qvintadena 16 ′
16. Dumped 08th'
17th Salicional 08th' N
18th Octav 04 ′
19th Fugara 04 ′
20th Nassat 03 ′
21st Octav 02 ′
22nd Tertie 01 3 ⁄ 5  ′
23. Sif flute 01'
24. Mixture IV 01 1 ⁄ 2  ′
25th oboe 08th' N
Tremulant
III Hinterwerk C – f 3
26th Dumped 08th'
27. Qvintadena 08th'
28. Octav 04 ′
29 Pipe flute 04 ′
30th Octav 02 ′
31. Waldflöt 02 ′
32. Qvinta 01 1 ⁄ 2  ′
33. Cimbel III 01'
34. Echo to the Cornet V
35. Vox humana 08th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
36. Principal bass 16 ′00
37. Violon 16 ′
38. Octav 08th' N
39. Accordion 08th'
40. Qvinta 06 ′
41. Octav 04 ′
42. Mixture VI 02 ′
43. trombone 16 ′
44. Trumpet 08th'
45. Cleron 04 ′ N
Remarks
N = register added to the original disposition

Further details of the equipment

  • Grave of Hofschneider Johann Korn (December 18, 1610 - June 16, 1671)

  • Episcopal sculptures

  • Alabaster pulpit, inscription: “The law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. "( John 1,17  EU )

  • Epitaph for Regina Stillerin (November 26, 1636 - June 29, 1712)

  • Organ with plaque Anna Betzin, 1722

  • Baptismal font from 1437

Parish and Church in the 21st Century

The main preacher of the Marienkirche is Christian Stäblein , Bishop of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia . The Marienkirche was the main church of the parish of St. Marien, which had been formed from the four former parishes around the Nikolai , the Georgen and the Parochialkirche . On January 1, 2006, it merged with the St. Petri- Luisenstadt community to form St. Petri-St. Marien parish in the parish of Berlin Stadtmitte . During the semester, the university church services of the Humboldt University in Berlin take place in the Marienkirche every Sunday . The first church wedding of a same-sex couple in Berlin took place in the church on July 22, 2017.

Survey history

When setting up a uniform coordinate system for the German national survey, the Rauenberg was chosen as the fundamental point and the astronomically determined azimuth to the Marienkirche was used to orient the network .

See also: geodetic date

Others

In the Middle Ages, the Marienkirche was one of the two starting points of the pilgrimage from Berlin to Wilsnack, along with the Heilig-Geist-Spital .

In September 1964, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Afro-American civil rights activist Martin Luther King preached in St. Mary's Church. a .: "No border can separate God's children."

At St. Mary's Church came in 1986 for the settlement of the first peregrine -Brutpaars in Berlin since 1944. The unsuccessful breeding of 1986 took place in an old hooded crows nest instead. In later years they brooded in a nest box . The peregrine falcons later brooded at the Berlin City Hall .

literature

  • Gustav Leh: The St. Marien Church in Berlin. Your story and your picture. Evangelical Publishing House, Berlin 1957.
  • The Berlin Marienkirche and its works of art. 1st edition, Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Berlin 1975, 2nd edition 1979.
  • Jürgen Boeckh: Old Berlin city churches. Haude & Spener, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-7759-0288-0 , pp. 61-77 ( Berliner Reminiscences 57th Volume 1).
  • Günther Kühne, Elisabeth Stephani: Evangelical churches in Berlin. 2nd edition. CZV-Verlag, Berlin 1986, ISBN 3-7674-0158-4 , pp. 351-353.
  • Marianne Tosetti: St. Marien zu Berlin. From 700 years of church history. 5th edition Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-374-00174-2 .
  • Georg Dehio et al. : Handbook of German Art Monuments - Berlin. 2nd edition Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-422-03071-9 , p. 34 ff.
  • Karl Schade: The Schlüter pulpit in the Berlin Marienkirche (= DKV art guide. No. 641). Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-422-02044-3 .
  • André Schmitz : Sankt Marien in: Kara Huber (ed.): Berlin churches and their guardians. Braus Verlag, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-86228-035-3 .

To the dance of death:

  • Wilhelm Lübke : The dance of death in the Marienkirche in Berlin. Riegel, Berlin 1861 ( digitized edition )
  • Theodor Prüfer : The death dance in the Marien Church in Berlin and history and idea of ​​the death dance pictures in general . Prüfer, Berlin 1883 ( digitized edition )
  • Peter Walther : The Berlin Dance of Death to St. Mary . Lukas Verlag, Berlin 1997, ISBN 978-3-931836-17-7 .
  • St. Nicolai and St. Marien Berlin, Parish Church Council (ed.): The dance of death in the Berlin Marienkirche. Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89541-157-4 .
  • Maria Deiters, Jan Raue, Claudia Rückert (eds.): The Berlin dance of death. History - Restoration - Public. Lukas-Verlag, Berlin 2014, ISBN 978-3-86732-172-3 .

Web links

Commons : St. Marienkirche (Berlin-Mitte)  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Joachim Schulz, Werner Gräbner: Architectural Guide GDR. Berlin , VEB Verlag für Bauwesen, 1974, p. 43.
  2. ↑ Harmony in white and gray. Retrieved November 2, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Presentation of the Senate Department for Urban Development  ( page no longer available , search in web archives ).@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de
  4. ↑ Representation of the Senate Department for Urban Development
  5. ^ Redesign of the Rathausforum - The Marienkirche receives a courtyard. In: Berliner Zeitung , April 4, 2014.
  6. ↑ http://www.kirchbau.de/php/300_datenblatt.php?id=149&name=keiner
  7. ↑ Art collection of the St. Mary's Church. Evangelical Church Congregation St.Petri-St.Marien, accessed on May 3, 2018 .
  8. ^ Nikolaus Bernau : The city of Berlin as altar rental: ST. MARIES. In: Berliner Zeitung . May 26, 2004, accessed May 3, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Uwe Aulich: The Marienaltar is due to return to Berlin in a few years: a temporary loan. In: Berliner Zeitung. July 22, 2004, accessed May 3, 2018 .
  10. ^ Christian Raabe: The Schlueter pulpit in Berlin's Marienkirche . In: INSITU - Zeitschrift für Architekturgeschichte 3 (2/2011), pp. 229–236.
  11. ↑ Christoph Wolff , Markus Zepf: The organs of J. S. Bach. A manual . Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2006, ISBN 3-374-02407-6 , p. 112 .
  12. ↑ marienkirche-berlin.de: The Joachim-Wagner-Orgel ( Memento from April 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on May 15, 2013.
  13. ↑ A colorful evening makes you think about tolerance. At: domradio.de , July 23, 2017
  14. ↑ Martin Luther King in East Berlin. In: Der Tagesspiegel , September 6, 2009
  15. ^ T. Müller: Management at the Berlin peregrine falcon pair. Pica 16, 1989: pp. 114-120
  16. ↑ R. Altenkamp, ​​P. Sömmer, G. Kleinstäuber, C. Saar: Population development and reproduction of the building-breeding peregrine falcons Falco p. peregrinus in Northeast Germany in the period 1986–1999 . In: Vogelwelt 122, 2001: pp. 329–339.

Coordinates: 52 ° 31 '14.3 "  N , 13 ° 24' 25.4"  E