The Parochial Church in the Kirchenkreis Berlin Stadtmitte is a church of the Evangelical parish of St. Petri-St. Marien in the center of Berlin. The building built from 1695 is the oldest church in the reformed community of Berlin.
The church, including the associated churchyard, is located between Klosterstraße, Parochialstraße and Waisenstraße directly behind the old city wall of Berlin, which is to be shared at this point. The historic churchyard with a number of old grave crosses and boards is located on the church premises. Behind it, the three-storey parish hall of the former Evangelical Georgen parochial community limits the area. In 1968, the previously independent parochial with the Georgen community, which finally opened in 2003 by fusion in the Mariengemeinde. In addition, there is a baroque building, which was already built in 1708 and served as a parish hall and hospital, but has been home to some of the theological faculty of the Humboldt University since the late 1990s.
The Parochial Church is the first Berlin church to be built
especially for the supporters of the Reformed Church. The reformed
community in Berlin and Cölln was created after the Brandenburg Elector
Johann Sigismund passed to Calvinism in 1613. Since 1632 it has used the
Lutheran cathedral in the then Cölln and the associated burial ground
and in 1694 asked the Elector Friedrich III, the later King Friedrich I
of Prussia, for consent to his own church building in Berlin. For this
purpose, the secret councils Eberhard von Danckelmann, Georg von Berchem
and Joachim Scultetus von Unfried (1638–1705) on behalf of the parish
acquired the property between Klosterstraße and Waisengasse, on which
the estate of the former electoral alchemist, chemist and glassmaker
Johannes Kunckel stood. The elector confirmed the purchase and approved
the construction of the church for the personnel community without
associated parochie, i.e. without its own municipal area, which emerged
from the supporters of the reformed church of the cathedral community.
The community members of the first century included important
representatives of Berlin politics and culture, such as the Minister
Johann Kasimir Kolbe von Wartenberg and Samuel von Cocceji, the master
builder Johann Boumann, the porcelain manufacturer Wilhelm Caspar Wegely
and the scholar Wilhelm von Humboldt. The former new reformed city and
parish church has been in its current name since the formation of the
Church of the Old Prussian Union in 1817.
Planning by Johann
Arnold Nering
In 1694, the planning master Johann Arnold Nering,
Friedrich III. had commissioned the construction on June 18 of the year.
As a Electoral Brandenburg senior builder, he was subordinate to him the
entire construction of the Mark Brandenburg. The choice of this man as a
builder of the church made the importance of the construction project
particularly clear. Nering's work, including the Köpenick castle chapel,
was strongly characterized by Dutch and Italian influences. His draft
for the Parochial Church is one of the most ripe works by the architect,
he combined both styles. The nieuwe Kerk in the Hague of Pieter Noorwits
(1649/1656) and the church of Santa Maria della Consolazione in the main
inspiration in the Haag (from 1508) obviously served as the main
inspiration. Like these churches, his construction project also
represented a simply structured main room with four spacious conches
that should be arranged in a cross. Before that, a portico was intended
with a gable worn by columns that contained an entrance hall. As a roof
structure, Nering planned copper -covered domes, which put on over a
high attic and at the center of which the three -day and column -covered
tower of the church rises. The outer facade was given a beautiful
structure through Corinthian columns, and cornices and a vase -crowned
attic were intended. Circumced wall parts between the columns should
serve as windows. A gallery in the interior was not planned so that the
sermons could take place in the center of the building.
On August
15, 1695, Friedrich III. the foundation stone for the church building,
which was sunk together with a copper engraving of the floor plan, a
Bible and a catechism. However, Nering died in the same year on October
21, 1695.
The construction work at the Parochial Church was handed over to
Nering's successor Martin Grünberg. The latter tried to carry out the
construction with a lower budget when the plans provided it, and
designed a new plan that was built on the existing foundation and had
the same floor plan. Grünberg reduced the overall building by reducing
the area, but remaining in the basic structure of the Vierkonchenhalle.
The dome vaults were lowered and the roofs were replaced by hipped
roofs, the walls lost their concave shapes and were smoothed. The Attica
and the cornices were also eliminated, and the Corinthian columns were
replaced by simpler button for stabilization. The basic draft of the
tower also remained with Grünberg, but it put it on a porch that
replaced the portico nerings instead of the center of the building.
Unlike Nering, Grünberg also built a gallery into the main room. The
laying of the foundation stone, in which the electoral couple also took
part, took place in 1695 with great ceremonial effort.
On
September 27, 1698, the almost completed roof vault collapsed. After a
necessary rescheduling in which the architect Andreas Schlüter was also
involved, and the further structure was finally inaugurated on July 8,
1703. The Prussian couple of rulers, now equipped with royal dignity,
also took part. In 1705 the construction was completed with the
exception of the tower, which just reached the height of the roof and
only consisted of the first floor, a tower tip was not available. The
building that is finally built by Grünberg is a baroque building that is
covered with light plaster. The facade of the building is loosened up by
high arched windows, and a high portal forms the entrance, also with an
arch as an upper end, which is flanked by two mighty pilaster columns.
Other jewelry elements and windows of different form were found
primarily on the tower of the church and in the area of the roof. In
1705 a pulpit was created after designs by Georg Gottfried Weyhenmeyer.
In 1732, a positive was built into the church by Joachim Wagner, which was later sold to the Berlin and orphanage for 35 Reichstaler. In 1733 the new organ was inaugurated, which was also a work of Wagner. She had 34 registers, 1660 whistles as well as two manuals and a pedal. The price was 3061 Reichstaler. Well -known organists and composers assessed the sound of these organ as excellent. There were conversions with adjustments to the respective time taste at around 30 years. In 1819 there was a reconciliation in the sense of romantic aesthetics by the Berlin organ builder Buchholz. The organ now had 38 registers. In 1903 the company Sauer (Frankfurt/Oder) made another major conversion, after which the organ had grown to 45 registers on three manuals and pedal. Organ music of high romance such as that of Max Reger, Charles-Marie Widor and others could now be made authentically. In 1931, the Walcker company from Ludwigsburg proposed to install a choral organ behind the altar. The company Sauer, whose owner was Oscar Walcker, was implemented and the renewed conversion of the main organ. It was difficult to agree on the sound image, but finally oriented itself to the original concept of Joachim Wagner. In the war year 1944, both organs were destroyed.
In 1713, King Frederick I gave the parochial church a carillon, which
was cast between Johann Jacobi between December 1700 and 1704 and was
intended for the Berlin coin tower. Of its originally 37 bells, the
tonal sequence of which was probably started with a Bourdon ES0 and
continued under the then usual omission of the next half tones from FIS0
to F4, but two were now missing. After the coin tower collapsed, this
Carillon should find a new place. In order to be able to install it, the
King Jean de Bodt placed the order to complete Martin Grünberg's
unsuccessful tower and to be stocked with his own floor for the bell
play. Jean de Bodt used his unrealized draft for the construction of the
cathedral church from the years around 1706.
However, the
implementation was carried out by Philipp Gerlach, who was commissioned
by Friedrich Wilhelm I. In deviation from the draft, in which de Bodt
provided for a crowning of the tower with a polygon, Gerlach put on a
slim, obelis -like tower tip, otherwise he largely took over the plans.
The bell floor is open and surrounded by four cornerstones, which
are associated in the literature with both the Roman architecture of
Carlo Rainaldi to Sant'Agnese in Agone in Rome and with British
architecture by Christopher Wren at the tower of St. Vedast in London .
The tower was decorated with stone sculpture by Johann Georg Glume,
Johann Gottfried Weyhenmayer and Johann Conrad Koch, including four
lions. These were under the top of the tower and seemed to be wearing
them. The construction of the tower was completed on April 24, 1714,
after which the bell play was installed, which was first played in 1715.
The garrison church in Potsdam designed by Philipp Gerlach was also
built from 1730 to 1735 at the order of King Friedrich Wilhelm I of
Prussia and has great similarity to the Berlin Parochial Church.
Due to the slightly unclean sound, a new carillon was commissioned by
the bell founder Jan Albert de Grave. He made it in 1714–1717 from 37
bronze bells, the greatest of the first casting from Jacobi. A
complicated mechanics drove the carillon, the control of which was
carried out by a clockwork built into the tower. The bell melodies were
very variable and sounded every hour. The roaring of the lion closed off
every game. For the various church holidays, the melodies were changed
14 to 15 times a year. This carillon received the name "Singuhr" in the
Berlin population and soon became known across Europe. At the beginning
of the 1930s there were even radio broadcasts of the carillon,
especially with the organist Wilhelm Bender.
Because the complete
top tower was destroyed in World War II, the original lions are probably
lost forever. The bells were brought to a reserve warehouse (in Hamburg)
after the start of the war; But they were not melted down.
In the 19th century, some smaller conversions were carried out in the
church, especially on the interior. The gallery built by Grünberg was
replaced by a new one in 1837/1838. Together with the installations in
the area of the sacristy in 1884/1885, this was removed from Gustav
Knoblauch and Hermann Wex to produce the room impression originally
requested by Nering. The north and south-east side were given small
extensions that were supposed to absorb the sacristy and a classroom.
The central pulpit was later moved to the south -east pillar, and a new
gallery for the organ was built on iron supports in the western area.
The ceiling vault and the walls were given ornamental painting, and the
baroque stone elements were removed. The windows were divided through
sandstone. The glass was colored and the choral windows decorated by
grisoid painting.
The church building between 1944 and the end of
the GDR
On May 29, 1944, fire bombs fell to the church on an allied
air raid, burning down to the surrounding walls together with the
interior and plunged the upper parts of the tower into the nave with the
bell play. In 1946 the tower stump received an emergency roof and the
tower hall, which was preserved above the porch, was set up as a service
room. During the GDR era, the church has spanned a slate roof
corresponding to the original state since 1950/1951. Fritz Kühn made an
iron cross from found scrap parts of the church in 1961, which was hung
in the sanctuary. On August 20, 1961, a week after the Berlin Wall was
built, the last service took place in the church. After that, the
building initially served for exhibitions and concerts, from 1970 as a
warehouse for furniture.
On the occasion of the upgrading of the
old town area for the 750th anniversary of Berlin, the building received
a new roof in 1988.
Main house and equipment
With the reunification of the city, an
intensive renovation and restoration process began in the historic
Berlin city center. The building has been restored gradually since 1991.
The work on the porch and on the tower stump was completed in 2001 and
on the nave in 2004. On the Attika of the porch, the one still
preserved, original flame vase could be set up together with five
copies.
The main room of the church was restored as part of the
work that it can be used safely. The monument conservation concept of
the Kuehn Malvezzi architect initially rejected a reconstruction of the
interior version and left a ruinous state, so that the walls are
unplastered as a shell and the ceiling is open to the roof structure.
The installation of oral glass was installed in the windows of the
church space. The scrap cross from the workshop of the art smith Fritz
Kühn in the Eastern Konche was posted inside. The anteroom is also
largely empty. The tombstones of the former parishioners Georg von
Berchem, Friedrich Ludwig Hermann Muzell and August Ludwig Carl Graul
hang on the walls. A simple staircase leads to the upper floor. In
addition to rare services on special occasions, the church space serves
primarily as an exhibition space for art projects and for other events.
Donations are collected for the further structure and the possible
reconstruction. In 2022, the church u. Exposition the great masters of
the Renaissance: world -famous works of art installed in Berlin.
The Association Denk at Berlin initiated a collection of donations
for the intended reconstruction of the war -destroyed Turmspitze and the
Glockenspiel. The construction costs for the reconstruction of the
church tower were estimated - including the restoration of the carillon
- at 3.5 million euros.
In the summer of 2014, the lottery
foundation granted an amount of two million euros, which together with a
private donation from the entrepreneur Hans Wall in the amount of
420,000 euros secured the start for the tower reconstruction from
February 2015. The architect Jochen Langeheinecke made of Werneuchen
created the plans for a new tower in contours of the original. The tower
has received a wooden tip above a bell room and a room for the bell
player (Carilloneur) and has been clad with gray copper sheet. In August
2015, Eijsbout's bell foundry received the order and on February 22,
2016 the bells were voted. The topping -out ceremony for the new church
top and the Carillon took place on July 1, 2016. On the occasion of the
inauguration on October 23, 2016, Carilloneur Wilhelm Ritter from Kassel
gave a concert. The new carillon (Carillon) now consists of 52 bells and
is powered electro-pneumatically. The total weight is given as 8,600 kg,
the largest bell weighs 1,490 kg, the smallest 8 kg. Your mood goes from
D1, E1 to FIS5.
Two bells from the old de Graveschen Glockenspiel
remained intact. As a ringing for services, they were hung in their own
wooden bell chair in the bell floor floor. The smaller bell is ringed
into prayer every day at 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. In the same times, the
Carillon sounds, but also at 3 p.m.
The churchyard is one of the oldest preserved church cemeteries in
Berlin. Like the church, he was inaugurated by King Friedrich I and his
wife Sophie Charlotte in 1705. He was the first churchyard of a reformed
community in Berlin, which until the time buried their deceased on the
burial place of the cathedral church. From 1706 the first funerals at
the Parochialkirchhof are occupied. In addition to the spatially very
limited burial field, so -called side vaults were set up. Despite the
small area, 5338 funerals are documented on the field and 247 in the
vaults. The best -known persons of the 18th and 19th centuries, who were
buried here, include the theologian and scholar Daniel Ernst Jablonski
(1660–1741), the Chamber Torte Friedrich Aly (approx. 1666–1716), the
royal educator Auguste Henriette Bock ( 1762–1845) as well as the
founder of the first Berlin porcelain factory Wilhelm Caspar Wegely. The
closure officially took place in 1854, after which only isolated
funerals took place. The last people buried here were two wars from
1945. After the inclusion of the Parochialkirch-Gasse in today's
Parochialstrasse, it was widened in 1888. Part of the grave surfaces has
been cleared and built over, some of the corpses came into the community
crypt of the churchyard.
In the churchyard, the preserved iron
crosses and tombstones from the 19th century are particularly eye
-catching. The rear wall is also equipped with epitaphs from the early
18th century. Two larger mausoleums, the back wall of which also reach
the wall, are also preserved. One of them can no longer be assigned to
any family and is therefore simply called Mausoleum II. The other is the
baroque heritage of the Director Brink from the 17th century, which was
expanded in the late classicist style by chapel construction from the
19th century and is therefore unique in Berlin. The grave monuments
"Ankersheim" and "Pistor" as well as the table grabmal Bock, which was
designed by August Stüler, are also particularly striking graves. An
angel figure also decorates a larger community grave in the center of
the small churchyard.
Around 1936 there were larger redesign of
the churchyard, especially in the direct area around the church and the
parish hall. The churchyard was also affected with the destruction of
the church in 1944 and the restoration was only very slow. It was not
until 1988 that the church was restored, and from 1999 the churchyard
was secured. For this purpose, the funds of the monument special program
"DACH + Fach" 1999/2000 were used. From 2001 to 2003, the mausoleums
were preserved and restored as well as a restoration of the historical
path and vegetation structures from the German Class Lottery Foundation
Berlin. The interior of the Mausoleum II was preserved and restored from
2001 to 2005.
The crypt houses 147 coffins. The 25 wooden doors
still preserved to the burial chambers were already installed when the
church was built at the end of the 17th century and thus form "the
largest stock of original baroque burial doors in Europe". The extensive
girdle has good mummifying properties due to a well thought -out
ventilation system. The burials from the 18th and 19th centuries have
not survived the times unscathed. Most of the changes and disorders from
human hands date from the time after the Second World War. Nevertheless,
the mummies represent a unique ensemble. From October 2000 to January
2001, a inventory was carried out by specialists from several specialist
areas. In the 110 open coffins (closed coffins were not examined), 87
mummies or the disturbed remains were found, spread over 69 coffins. In
some coffins, there were several individuals, but they were only put in
there later. The content of 32 coffins contained litter bones. Only nine
coffins were bone -free. 52 individuals were apparently complete. 35
buried goods were destroyed. 25 deaths were separated in recent times.
The degree of mummification voted in the individuals and had a
connection in the season in which the burial took place. The majority
(42 buried) is only partially mummified, 32 were well mummified and 13
were completely skeletonized. Depending on the degree of mummification,
the organic tissues were colored differently and had a spectrum from
yellowish to dark brown. In nine individuals there were parial purple
discoloration, the cause of which could not be clarified.