The Berlin Cathedral (officially: Oberpfarr- und Domkirche zu Berlin)
at the Lustgarten on the Museum Island is a Protestant church in the
Berlin district of Mitte/ Center. Built in the
years 1894-1905 according to designs by Julius Raschdorff in
Neo-Renaissance and Neo-Baroque style, the monument is the largest
Protestant church in Germany in terms of area and one of the most
important dynastic burial sites in Europe. In addition to church
services, the cathedral is also used for state acts, concerts and other
events.
Since the memorial church on the north side was
demolished in 1975, Berlin Cathedral has consisted of the large sermon
church in the middle, the smaller baptismal and wedding church on the
south side and the Hohenzollern crypt, which occupies almost the entire
basement. Heavily damaged in World War II, the exterior of the cathedral
was simplified by 1984 and the interior of the cathedral was restored to
its original state by 2002. The Hohenzollern crypt is to be extensively
renovated and modernized by 2023. A subsequent reconstruction of the
memorial church to restore the original program of the Berlin Cathedral
is currently being discussed in specialist circles.
Dimensions
Originally, the cathedral was 114 meters long, 73
meters wide, 114 meters high and offered 2100 seats. Due to the
demolished memorial church, the simplified rebuilt dome and the
magnificent sarcophagi that were moved to the sermon church, it is now
90 meters long, 98 meters high and offers 1390 seats. The dome has a
diameter of 33 meters. With a floor area of 6270 square meters, it is
the largest evangelical church in Germany.
First Cathedral 1536-1747
The history of a cathedral on the
Spreeinsel goes back to the 15th century. In the recently completed
castle, the Erasmus chapel was consecrated as the court church in 1450.
The collegiate monastery located near her was confirmed in 1465 by Pope
Paul II.
After Joachim II became elector in 1535, he had the
Dominican church south of the palace converted into the new court
church. The medieval brick church of the Dominicans in Gothic style was
expanded, richly furnished, princely burial places were set up and a
bell ringing was installed. The new cathedral was consecrated in 1536.
In 1539, Joachim II converted to the Lutheran faith: the Catholic
cathedral became a Protestant cathedral. In 1608 the cathedral chapter
was dissolved and the cathedral became the highest parish church in
Cölln.
The conversion of Elector Johann Sigismund and his court
to the Reformed confession on Christmas Day 1613 in the cathedral and
its subsequent transformation in the Reformed sense resulted in
conflicts with the estates and the Lutheran church of the Kurmark. They
erupted in April 1615 in Berlin and Cölln on the part of the residents
in the so-called Berlin tumult with serious riots and looting of the
homes of the Calvinist court clergy.
Second Cathedral 1747–1894
Since the brick church had become dilapidated in the centuries that
followed, Frederick II had a baroque new building built in the
Lustgarten, where the cathedral is today, between 1747 and 1750, and
after the transfer of the electoral coffins to the new building, the old
cathedral was demolished. The architects of this new building, which was
consecrated on September 6, 1750, were the Dutch-born Johann Boumann,
who had a very sober conception of the Baroque, and Georg Wenzeslaus von
Knobelsdorff.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Karl
Friedrich Schinkel redesigned the cathedral in a simple variant of the
then modern classicism, the interior in 1816/1817, the external
appearance in the years 1820/1821. Schinkel student and later
Mecklenburg-Strelitz court master builder Friedrich Wilhelm Buttel was
the leading civil engineer (government construction manager) during the
conversion.
During the 19th century it was discussed whether the
existing modest Schinkel Cathedral, which was a conversion of the
baroque cathedral church built under Frederick the Great, could cope
with the representational claims of the monarchy any longer. At the
instigation of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV, it was decided to build a new,
more magnificent cathedral, which was to be built as a two-tower
basilica with a three-aisled nave based on the Italian model. Friedrich
August Stüler, a student of Schinkel, provided the designs. The first
construction work has started. The foundation walls with the visible
apses were built in the Spree. The high walls of the planned royal
burial ground and Hohenzollern burial ground, known as Campo Santo by
King Friedrich Wilhelm IV, have also already been erected next to the
cathedral. The royal wash house on this site had previously been
demolished. The revolution of 1848 initially interrupted the
construction work. In the reactionary era that followed, public interest
in the basilica project waned in favor of a dome project. In addition,
the courtyard received a new, magnificent court church in 1854 when the
castle dome was completed. In the meantime, the House of Representatives
in Prussia decided on the state budget. Its majority was unwilling to
finance the king's ambitious building projects. As a result,
construction work in 1848 came to a standstill for decades.
New
cathedral building 1894-1905
After the founding of the empire, there
was a renewed call for a representative church that could compete with
the major churches in the world and at the same time should impressively
replace the previous evangelical churches. In 1885 the architect Julius
Carl Raschdorff, professor at the Technical University of
Charlottenburg, presented plans for a new building. But it was Wilhelm
II, in his capacity as King and Summus Episcopus in Prussia, that
ordered the demolition of the Schinkel Cathedral and the construction of
a new cathedral according to Raschdorff's plans, which were
characterized by an eclectic adaptation of architectural forms from the
Italian High Renaissance and the Baroque.
The cornerstone of this
building was laid on June 17, 1894, with the aim of being able to
inaugurate the building in 1900. However, construction delays meant that
this could not take place until February 27, 1905.
A cathedral
building administration headed by the architect Julius Raschdorff
(cathedral master builder since July 2, 1892) was responsible for the
new cathedral. This construction administration consisted of two
departments, a first department for the creation of the construction and
execution plans and the supervision of the construction models, and a
second department for the actual construction work and its supervision
as well as accounting (with measurements and accounting in not simple
complexity). The first department, which was also responsible for
artistic planning, was headed by Julius Raschdorff's son Otto, with
Wilhelm II exerting influence on the design of the cathedral throughout
the construction period. The painter Anton von Werner changed his
designs for the design of the dome mosaic fields, the mosaic pictures of
the evangelists and the window designs in the apse of the cathedral
according to Wilhelm's personal wishes. In charge of the second
department of construction work by the cathedral building administration
was building inspector Julius Kleinau, who was assisted by the future
master builder Bernhard Hoffmann and who was supported in the
construction management until 1896 by the architect Moritz Korn.
Heinrich Müller-Breslau was responsible for the structural calculations
and the design of the steel construction of the dome.
The main
altar from the previous building, created by Friedrich August Stüler in
1850, found its place in the new building. Carl Joseph Begas designed
the altarpiece of the baptismal and marriage church.
The
sarcophagus of Emperor Friedrich III, which had stood in the mausoleum
in Potsdam after his death, was given its new place in the Hohenzollern
crypt. On this occasion, Reinhold Begas made a new sarcophagus from
Greek marble on behalf of Kaiser Wilhelm II. It was completed in
November 1905.
The cathedral was equipped with electric lighting
early on, which initially consisted of arc and Nernst lamps. In
addition, the fan of the organ was moved by motor power, as was the
chime, and in 1905 there was already an electric passenger elevator.
destruction and reconstruction
During the Second World War, the
cathedral suffered increasing damage. First, all the altar windows were
destroyed in an Allied air raid on the neighboring Burgstraße, and
larger cracks appeared in the cupolas of the corner towers. Later,
during one of the strongest air raids on Berlin on May 24, 1944, the
dome and its lantern were hit hard. A canister filled with liquid fuel
set fire to the wooden casing, lined with peat for insulation, beneath
the copper roofing. The advancing firefighters could not reach the seat
of the fire. As a result, the entire dome lantern fell down into the
interior of the cathedral, smashing through the floor of the sermon
church with its enormous weight and damaging large parts of the
Hohenzollern crypt below. It has been handed down that cathedral
organist Fritz Heitmann is said to have played on the organ, which was
protected from the falling debris, even when the dome was open. In
addition, the attack damaged the memorial church and again the four
towers. After the war, the cathedral was considered 25 percent
destroyed. Thieves later caused great damage to the organ. They stole
about a third of the pipes and ripped out pneumatic action lines to sell
the metal.
After the sermon church had become unusable, the
cathedral congregation gathered for the first time at Pentecost 1944 in
a part of the Hohenzollern crypt that was specially separated for this
purpose under the memorial church. Converted into a cathedral crypt
church, apart from an interruption from spring to September 1945, and
equipped with the Schuke organ since 1946, it was used for the services
of the cathedral community. Until he left in 1960, the Oberdompreacher
Bruno Doehring preached here every Sunday to around a thousand
believers. Closed in 1971 after the makeshift restoration of the
baptismal and marriage church, the reduced cathedral crypt church was
used again in the years 1975-1980 during the restoration work in the
baptismal and marriage church.
The dome had been able to keep its
shape, but now there was a large hole in the middle. The sermon church,
already badly damaged by dust and debris, suffered further damage from
the following weather conditions, as did the dome mosaics. In order to
protect the interior of the cathedral, the only option was to close the
dome as quickly as possible. The city council therefore decided in 1948
to provide emergency aid, but the necessary work could only be completed
in 1953. The crypt was not renovated and was not open to the public in
those years.
After emergency repairs, the cathedral was usable
again except for the memorial church and the sermon church. From 1945
until the beginning of the restoration in 1975, it served as the seat of
the Theological Faculty of the Humboldt University and the Theological
Branch Library of the University Library.
After lengthy
discussions about the design of East Berlin's city center, in which the
demolition of the cathedral or its conversion in a different form was
discussed several times, the GDR government decided in 1975 to rebuild
the cathedral. In principle, the state buildings that have been erected
on Marx-Engels-Platz, the Palace of the Republic with the People's
Chamber, the State Council building and the Foreign Ministry of the GDR
should not be impaired in their effect by a completely restored
testimony to the Empire.
Therefore, she had the damaged memorial
church on the north side and the undamaged underpass on the south-west
tower demolished. The main dome and the four tower ends did not get
their original form, but were greatly simplified and reduced in height
by 16 meters. The removal of all end lanterns and a completely new dome
cross was particularly striking. Furthermore, when the memorial church
was removed, the marble Bismarck epitaph created by Reinhold Begas was
destroyed and the magnificent sarcophagi of the Hohenzollerns were moved
to the now smaller crypt church. 204 façade elements of the memorial
church were taken to a depot in Ahrensfelde, where they are to this day.
In 1983 this work had progressed so far that the complex reconstruction
of the interior was carried out by 1993. Both the imperial staircase and
the central sermon church were restored according to Raschdorff's
original plans. Furthermore, the south portal received the bronze door
of reconciliation by Siegfried Krepp. This was followed by the
installation of the colored choir windows and the restoration of the
dome mosaics, the last section of which was ceremoniously unveiled in
2002. The comprehensive cleaning of the Sauer organ was also part of
this.
According to Manfred Stolpe, who was involved at the time,
the cost of rebuilding the Berlin Cathedral was originally estimated at
45 million currency marks, which the Evangelical Church of Germany and
the government of the Federal Republic of Germany paid for in the amount
of 45 million marks. Ludwig Geißel, chief negotiator on behalf of the
EKD, confirmed this sum.
In October 1974, the GDR government had
also promised an annual subsidy of 200,000 GDR marks for the maintenance
of the Berlin Cathedral, thereby fulfilling a condition of the
contractual partners. Previously there was allegedly the GDR demand that
negotiations on church building programs in the GDR only take place with
simultaneous negotiations on the reconstruction of the Berlin Cathedral.
In 1976 there was a supplementary payment of 20.5 million
Deutschmarks in addition to the already paid construction costs of 45
million Deutschmarks, now totaling 65.5 million Deutschmarks. The actual
costs for the reconstruction of the Berlin Cathedral amounted to 150
million Deutschmarks and were also paid for by the two donors mentioned.
In March 2019 it became known that the facade was crumbling due to
the effects of soot, rain and exhaust fumes and had to be renovated by
2023 for 1.6 million euros. A fundraising campaign was started for this
purpose.
Historical Dome
The dismantling of the dome cross fueled a
discussion about whether the five dome lanterns that adorned the
building before the war should be put back on. Critics of the cupola
cross from GDR times complain in particular that the originally
implemented proportions of the building are only insufficiently
reproduced with the reduced solution. Accordingly, the Evangelische
Kirchenbauverein in particular campaigned for a reconstruction of the
original state and also received support for this from the Gesellschaft
Historisches Berlin. In the dispute over this, however, the critics were
rejected by the cathedral community, which opposed this request. The
fact that the current state was listed as a monument also makes
reconstruction more difficult. The historic dome construction of the
substructure, on the other hand, was nominated in 2007 for the award as
a historic landmark of engineering architecture in Germany.
Dome cross
At the beginning of December
2006, the lantern crowning that was placed on the cathedral dome in 1981
as part of the reconstruction was removed. The cathedral construction
office called in a structural engineer after rust damage was discovered
under the gilded copper paneling in August 2006. In the reports it was
determined that the stability of the 12.5 ton and 15 meter high dome
cross was no longer guaranteed in storms. Since the structure, made of
hollow steel forms, was completely eaten away inside and out, it could
not be restored.
The damage was due to bimetallic corrosion,
which occurs when different noble metals (here: copper and steel) are
combined and leads to corrosion of the less noble metal (here: steel).
In the 1970s, the KT steel used (anti-corrosive steel, Corten steel) was
believed to have more favorable material properties. Due to the damage
pattern, other roof structures with comparable material combinations
also had to be examined for damage, the balls on the four corner towers
and the copper-worked figure decoration.
The 1981 version of the
dome cross was reconstructed by the Breidenbach metal construction
company from Peiting in Upper Bavaria. The new cross was then covered
with 1.5 kilograms of gold leaf by Berlin specialists. On August 19,
2008, it was lifted onto the dome of the cathedral by a 500-ton crane.
Of the 1.2 million euros that arose in the renovation of the Berlin
Cathedral, 700,000 euros went to the new dome cross. The old dome cross
was moved to the cemetery of the Oberpfarr- und Domkirche on
Liesenstrasse, albeit without the dome crown.
A wreath extends
around the dome, on which 20 copper angel figures are enthroned at
regular intervals. During the repairs from 1978 to 1981, these were
refurbished by the Kunstschmiede Berlin, some of which were completely
renewed. At a height of 50 m, a viewing platform open to the public
stretches around the Tambour and offers a 360° view of Berlin.
In the center of the dome is a round window showing the dove of the
Holy Spirit in a halo. Below are eight large-format mosaics depicting
the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount. They were created by Anton
von Werner, who also designed the mosaics of the four evangelists in the
niches of the vaulted pillars. He also created the chancel windows
depicting the birth of Jesus, crucifixion and resurrection, and angels
with symbols of death, faith, love and hope. On the cornices of the
half-columns in the church interior are four meter high sandstone
statues of the four reformers Calvin, Luther, Melanchthon and Zwingli on
the altar side, on the opposite side around the imperial box, those of
the four secular rulers Albert of Prussia, Joachim II, Friedrich the
Wise and Philip the Magnanimous, who were promoters of the Reformation.
The figures were selected by December 1902, and the sculptors Friedrich
Pfannschmidt, Gerhard Janensch, Alexander Calandrelli, Harro Magnussen,
Karl Begas, Walter Schott and Max Baumbach were commissioned to produce
the sculptures. Four bas-reliefs by Otto Lessing, each between two
figures above the conch-like niches, show scenes from the Acts of the
Apostles (stoning of Stephen, conversion of Paul, Peter in Athens,
healing of a lame man).
Under the organ gallery are baroque
pompous sarcophagi for the Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm and his
second wife Dorothea, as well as a bronze table tomb for Elector Johann
Cicero and a tomb monument for Friedrich III. Under the southern gallery
are two gilded coffins for King Friedrich I and Sophie Charlotte. These
were created by Andreas Schlueter. Schlueter also designed the eagle
lectern from 1701 in front of the chancel. The gilded original of this
lectern is in the cathedral museum.
The altar table made of white
marble and yellowish onyx, created by Friedrich August Stüler,
represents a mixture of a Lutheran block altar and a reformed table
altar and thus illustrates the merger of the two churches to form the
Uniate Church in Prussia. The choir screen of the old cathedral has been
set up as an altar wall behind the altar. It is made of gilded bronze
and is decorated with replicas of the apostle figures from the Nuremberg
tomb of Sebaldus.
In the area of the main altar there are two
floor candelabra made of gilded iron. Like the Apostle choir screen,
they were designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel (still for the previous
building). They were worked out by the Berlin sculptor Theodor Kalide
(for the installation in the Berlin Cathedral by Raschdorff, the
chandelier was raised and provided with historicist additions).
The design for the pulpit, carved from oak, was made by Otto Raschdorff,
the son of the master builder, who also designed the organ case.
Cartouche images above the organ show Jesus Christ as the judge of the
world in a halo of angels. The stucco cartouches above the other
galleries were also intended for pictures, but remained undecorated for
cost reasons.
For festive occasions, the Berlin Cathedral has a
processional cross by the Bavarian artist Helmut Ulrich. The cross
consists of rose quartz, rock crystal and yellow aragonite. Since
processional crosses have become a rarity in Protestant communities,
often to distinguish them from the Catholic liturgy, this cross is a
special feature of the Berlin Cathedral.
The most magnificent
gallery in the church is the imperial box. A coat of arms with an
imperial eagle is attached to the parapet, crowned by a crown with a
cross and thus represents the connection between church and state.
In the main room, eight statues of princes were commissioned around
1903, executed by eight different sculptors who had rendered services to
the Reformation.
Sauer organ from 1905
The organ in the sermon church comes from
the Sauer organ building workshop, the organ case is from the sculptor
Richard Moest. The instrument was designed and built at the same time as
the cathedral. The Rückpositiv can be played from the third manual.
The technology corresponds to the status of 1905 and was last
completely renovated in 2006. In 1932 the Rückpositiv was rearranged by
cathedral organist Fritz Heitmann, with Hans Henny Jahnn responsible for
the mensuration. During the restoration from 1988 to 1993 by the
building company, the organ was brought back to the status of 1905, but
equipped with a more powerful blower and thus sufficient wind stability
even when played at full speed.
With its 7269 pipes (113
registers, four manuals and pedal), it is the largest fully pneumatic,
highly romantic organ and was the largest cathedral organ in Germany at
the time. The disposition is as follows:
A three-part bronze bell hangs in the north-west tower. The bells
hang in a three-span steel chair (large bell in the middle). The small
bell hangs on the wooden yoke, the others on steel yokes.
The
heaviest bell is called the New Wilsnacker Bell. She wears the Crucified
and the Risen Christ as adornment. It replaced the bell of the
Wilsnacker Wunderblutkirche from 1471, which had been in the previous
buildings of the Berlin Cathedral since 1552. In 1921 it had become
unusable due to a crack, was repaired and, cracked again in 1928, came
to Lauchhammer. There it saved the Märkisches Museum from melting down
in the last hour in 1930 and set it up in the church hall of the museum
in 1935.
Description
The apse-shaped memorial church in the north of the
cathedral contained the magnificent sarcophagi of the Hohenzollerns and
access to the crypt of the same name. It was 24 meters long, 24 meters
wide and 21 meters high. The building was “not a burial place and no
mausoleum, but a pure memorial room, designed as a threshold space
between the sermon church and the burial place. In a broader sense, the
memorial church already appeared as a museum as a place where important
works of art were exhibited.” A high base with windows, the main floor
with avant-corps and a low attic with a cupola structured the building.
Mighty columns and pilasters, a strong entablature and alternating
triangular and segmental gables particularly emphasized the main floor.
In addition, frames, windows and sculptural niches adorned the façade.
From the north, the memorial church looked similar to the Pantheon in
Rome, which Raschdorff used as a guide when planning.
A separate
portal on the north-west tower led into the interior of the memorial
church, which consisted of an anteroom, the large main room with five
chapels and a stairwell to the Hohenzollern crypt on the north-east
tower. High columns with a wide entablature, on which a stuccoed barrel
vault with a round light opening rested, dominated the main room. Round
arches connected it to the chapels, which were decorated with low
pilasters and sober groined vaults. In it stood, from left to right, the
magnificent sarcophagi of King Friedrich I and Queen Sophie Charlotte,
Emperor Friedrich III, the Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm and Electress
Dorothea, and Elector Johann Cicero. In the middle of the floor of the
main room, from which a door also led to the sermon church, was the
crypt opening for lowering sarcophagi into the basement. In addition,
there were the Bismarck grave monument by Reinhold Begas as well as the
sculptures Deposition from the Cross by Michael Lock and the Easter
angel on the grave of Emil Graf von Görtz inside the memorial church.
Demolition
In connection with the
intended reduction of the external impact of the cathedral during its
reconstruction, the government of the GDR decided to demolish the
memorial church and the underpass. The memorial church was blown up on
October 30, 1975. As a result, the cathedral lost an essential part, the
sarcophagus collection of the Hohenzollern family, its exhibition room
and the Hohenzollern crypt its access. The Bismarck statue was smashed.
However, construction workers were able to save the head from smashing.
The sculptures of the Easter angel at the grave and Christ's descent
from the cross were also saved and are now in the crypt. 204 parts of
the facade were salvaged and have been lying in a forest in Ahrensfelde
ever since. Another 230 parts of the façade have been kept in a depot
outside of Berlin since 1997.
Discussion about reconstruction
In connection with the reconstruction of the Hohenzollern crypt, a
reconstruction of the memorial church is being discussed, which the
cathedral building association, among others, is demanding. According to
the chairman of the association, Horst Winkelmann, the cathedral would
remain a torso without the memorial church. In addition, a
reconstruction creates space for the dignified installation of the
valuable sarcophagi. In addition, the Hohenzollern crypt would have its
original spacious access back via the memorial church. According to
monument conservator Peter Goralczyk, the outstanding works of art in
the Berlin Cathedral could only have an “appropriate place of
installation that is accessible to the public” in the memorial church. A
reconstruction would "extremely enrich the presentation of history in
the city" and create a bridge between the museums and formative church
buildings. According to the master builder Charlotte Hopf, the
collection of plans in the cathedral archive contains almost 500
original drawings of the memorial church. It is the “part of the
building that has been handed down most extensively in terms of
drawings” after the sermon church. These are mainly floor plans and
sections, but also exterior, interior and detail views.
The
former master builder Rüdiger Hoth also demands that the memorial church
"be rebuilt" and the magnificent sarcophagi "be presented in a dignified
manner as they used to be". The missing part of the building on the
north side is a "flaw". But when it comes to Hohenzollern, "everybody
dismisses it", while in Italy the legacy of the Medici "is dealt with
much more carefully".
At the end of December 2018, the Berliner
Zeitung reported that the great visitor interest in the Hohenzollern
crypt had brought new momentum to the discussion about rebuilding the
memorial church. In addition to the construction of the city palace and
the expansion of the museum island, the fact that the original entrance
to the crypt was in the memorial church suggests a reconstruction of
this part of the building. A hundred years after the end of the
monarchy, all those involved were to have a discussion about the use of
the memorial church "freed from the Hohenzollern burden". The
celebrations in November showed that the public was ready "for this part
of German history, too." The cathedral architect Sonja Tubbesing
describes the remains of the memorial church as a "unique treasure that
needs to be unearthed, if only out of respect for the history of our
building culture". In the case of a reconstruction, individual parts
could be reused, and the eyesore on the cathedral could “be turned into
a piece of jewelry again in the near future”. It is not about creating a
memorial for the Hohenzollerns, but about setting up a sexton's
apartment, a community room or a museum on this subject. The project
manager of the crypt conversion, Claudia Kruschel, also proposes a
"museological use" of the rebuilt memorial church. Before this can
begin, however, the reconstruction of the Hohenzollern crypt must first
be completed, emphasizes the cathedral's spokeswoman, Svenja Pelzel. In
addition, the decision lies with the Cathedral Church Council, which
agreed in principle to rebuilding the memorial church in 2011, but still
has open questions about use, architecture and financing. In this
context, the cathedral administration is hoping for support from the
federal government, the state of Berlin and private donors.
Description
The Hohenzollern crypt, which occupies almost the
entire basement of the Berlin Cathedral, is the most important dynastic
burial site in Germany. Together with the Capuchin Crypt in Vienna, the
Cathedral of Saint-Denis near Paris and the El Escorial Monastery near
Madrid, it is one of the most important dynastic burial sites in Europe.
A total of 94 members of the House of Hohenzollern from the late 16th to
the early 20th century found their final resting place in it. This also
includes electors and kings, who significantly shaped the history of
Brandenburg and Prussia.
Together with the magnificent
sarcophagi, which were originally located in the memorial church and
have been cramped in the sermon church since their demolition in 1975,
the coffins bear witness to 500 years of European burial culture. In
addition to stone and metal sarcophagi, some of which are elaborate,
representing all artistic styles from late Gothic onwards, the
Hohenzollern crypt also contains particularly rare wooden coffins that
are covered with textiles such as velvet or brocade. During the Second
World War, bomb hits severely damaged the crypt and almost completely
destroyed some coffins. Since it reopened on November 20, 1999, the
Hohenzollern Crypt has had around 720,000 visitors a year. It is
expected to be renovated and made barrier-free by 2023 for around 18.6
million euros.
The above-mentioned magnificent sarcophagi in the
Sermon Church are dedicated as cenotaphs to King Friedrich I and Queen
Sophie Charlotte, Emperor Friedrich III, Elector Johann Cicero, Elector
Friedrich Wilhelm I and Electress Dorothea. Except for the missing bones
of Elector Johann Cicero, whose The tomb is the oldest in the cathedral,
her remains are in stone sarcophagi with wooden inner coffins in the
Hohenzollern crypt.
The congregation of the Oberpfarr- und Domkirche zu Berlin has around
1800 members and has been growing for years. It belongs to the church
district of Berlin Stadtmitte in the district of Berlin and occupies a
special position in the Evangelical Church of
Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia.
The special legal
circumstances of the community are regulated in the order of the
Oberpfarr- und Domkirche zu Berlin of November 28, 2001. It replaced the
1979 order, which in turn had replaced the 1812 order.
In
addition to eight cathedral church councilors elected by the
congregation and the cathedral preachers, its governing body, the
"Domkirchenkollegium", also includes four delegated members with voting
rights: one representative each of the federal government and the Senate
of Berlin are appointed by the Council of the Union of Evangelical
Churches (UEK) in elected by the EKD, the office of the UEK and the
regional church each send another representative. The committee is
chaired by Christlieb Klages. Because of the importance of the
cathedral, the two pastoral positions in the parish are advertised
across Germany. Acting cathedral preachers are Michael Kösling (head of
the management of the Berlin Cathedral, executive cathedral preacher and
deputy chairman of the cathedral church council, since 2013 at the
Berlin Cathedral), Petra Zimmermann (since 2006, status: 2018) and
Thomas C. Müller (since 2010) as well as Birte Biebuyck (volunteer
pastor; since 2007).
After the destruction of the Second World
War, services and devotions took place in the memorial church and from
1980 in the restored baptismal and wedding church. Since 1993 there have
been daily services in the sermon church again.
The acts of
mourning for the former Federal Presidents Johannes Rau (February 2006),
Richard von Weizsäcker (February 2015) and Roman Herzog (January 2017),
an ecumenical service of thanksgiving on the 50th anniversary of the
Treaty of Rome (March 2007) and the official funeral service took place
in the Berlin Cathedral for the three German bodyguards killed in
Afghanistan (August 2007).
Only 4% of the finances of the
cathedral parish come from church taxes. More than 80% is generated from
entrance fees to the Cathedral, which declined during the 2020 Corona
crisis, leading to some tension and leadership splits over the proper
leadership of the cathedral community.