St. Michael (Berlin-Kreuzberg)

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St. Michael

The Catholic Church of St. Michael at Waldemarstrasse 8-10 in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg in the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district was designed by Rudolf Schwarz , and Hans Schaefers was in charge of the construction. The foundation stone was laid on February 11, 1964, the topping-out ceremony on October 15 of the same year. The benediction took place on April 25, 1965.

history

With the construction of the Berlin Wall , the West Berlin part of the Michaelsgemeinde was separated from its church . The community then set up an emergency church on Mariannenplatz in a building it had acquired in the 1950s. The division of Berlin was not officially recognized by the Diocese of Berlin . That is why the community actually remained. For a new community center , the community bought a piece of land near the wall with a view of the old Michael’s Church, on the one hand to keep the memory of it alive, and on the other hand to use the church and community center jointly after the fall of the wall by both parts of the community. Because the building was supposed to serve as a community hall after German reunification and the merging of the two parts of the community, it was only assigned and not consecrated. The Michaelsgemeinde in Kreuzberg had all the rights of a congregation, but it was not an independent parish , but only an administration . After the reunification led discrepancies about the diaconal work to the fact that the merger of the two parts of the community parish lines failed. The East Berlin parishioners now belong to the parish of St. Hedwig's Cathedral . Due to the urban redevelopment in Kreuzberg and the relocation of community members to new development areas, their number fell sharply. Therefore, in 2000 the Kreuzberg Michaelsgemeinde merged with the parish of St. Marien-Liebfrauen . In January 2004 St. Michael also became the diocese's youth church . Additional lettering was attached to the facade of the church above the entrance and the gallery was redesigned into a room for communication .

Building description

It corresponded to the need for the return of the New Objectivity at that time that the building consists of staggered and interpenetrating cubic structures . However, a bell tower as a visible sign of Christian presence is missing due to the surrounding high-rise buildings . The building, built on the plan of the Antonius Cross, is aligned in three right-angled axes , that of the nave and the two arms of the transept , on the relatively flat dais of the altar area. The popular altar , which serves both the faithful and the liturgy , therefore does not mark the architectural focal point of the building. The altar island is on all three sides of pews for the church visitors surrounded. The interior of the reinforced concrete skeleton structure was filled with exposed brickwork made of sand - lime bricks, the wall cladding of the exterior consists of large-scale limestone slabs . The joists of the flat roof are visible from the inside. The altar island is illuminated by upper cladding. There are also windows on the walls facing the portal . In addition, some of the walls have windows made of glass blocks . One of the axes is bridged by the gallery for the organ . When designing the interior, some elements from the old St. Michael's Church were used. From there z. B. the spoils on the altar wall and individual gemstones that were built into the altar. The sculpture Christ in der Rast , created in 1922 by Carl Blümel to commemorate the dead of the First World War for the old Michaelskirche as a bronze casting , has been in the new one since 1976. A redesign of the interior and a renewal of the principles such as the altar, tabernacle , ambo and baptismal font was made by Grzimek-Hagel in 1988–1989. Here he used ornamented shaped stones from the old Michael’s Church.

literature

  • Marina Wesner: Kreuzberg and its places of worship: churches-mosques-synagogues-temples. Berlin 2007.
  • Christine Goetz and Matthias Hoffmann-Tauschwitz: Churches Berlin Potsdam. Berlin 2003.
  • Architects and Engineers Association of Berlin: Berlin and its buildings. Part VI. Sacred buildings. Berlin 1997.
  • Gerhard Streicher and Erika Drave: Berlin - city and church. Berlin 1980.
  • Hilde Herrmann: Development and expansion in the diocese of Berlin. Berlin 1968.

Web links

Commons : St. Michael (Berlin-Kreuzberg)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 16.6 "  N , 13 ° 24 ′ 54.4"  E