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KAISER WILHELM MEMORIAL CHURCH
West Berlin's Bombed Spire and the Blaukirche
Most of the
bomb damage from the Second World War in Europe has been torn down,
rebuilt, or
repurposed - especially the cathedrals and churches,
which either escaped significant damage because bombers would use their
recognizable spires as targeting points, or like the like the Berliner
Dom (see Berlin Dom Kaiser Crypt) or the Frauenkirche in Dresden (see
Dresden
Frauenkirche Restored) painstakingly restored to the beauty
of an earlier glory. During the post-war division of east and west
Berlin,
the center
of the west section was marked by the bomb shattered spire of the Kaiser
Wilhelm Church in the central square on the Kurfürstendamm. Blackened
at the top with open gaping rosette window the damaged church was allowed
to remain as a reminder of the cost of war, now the Kaiser-Wilhelm Memorial
Church (Gedächtniskirche).
The church is not a memorial to the Kaiser (German Emperor), but to the ravages of war. Although appearing like a medieval cathedral, the church was only built just before the turn of the last century, in honor of Kaiser Wilhelm I by his grandson, Wilhelm II (the one from the First World War), begun in 1891 and completed in 1885. The original church, designed in Neo-Romanseque style by architect Franz Schwechten once seated 2,000. All that remains is the bell tower, broken and jagged at the top and the front portion of the nave and entrance which supports it, now used as a memorial hall. The church was bombed in a night British bombing raid on Berlin on November 23, 1943.
The entrance hall
was opened to visitors in 1987, and feature several mosaics which adorned
the old church with the Kaiser’s roysl themes.
Kaiser Wilhelm II was particularly fascinated with his family’s
lineage (see Black Forest Hohenzollern Castle). The mosaics depict a
procession of Hohenzollern princes, important monarchs of medieval Germany
when it was the Holy Roman Empire, and figures from the Protestant Reformation
(see Martin
Luther’s Wittenberg). Other displays tell the history
of the old church and its wartime destruction. A damaged Christ figure
which originally stood on the altar of the old church remains next to
a Cross of Nails which was made from nails in the roof timbers of Coventry
Cathedral which was damaged in a German bombing raid of England in 1940.
Blaukirche
A new church was built next to the destroyed clock tower with four post-modernist
buildings designed by architect Egon Eiermann, begun in 1959 and consecrated
in 1963. Casually called the Blaukirch (Blue Church) for its luminescent
interor color, the octagonal interior with a suspended flying Christ
figure above the altar feels rather like another world. The walls of
concrete honeycomb of steel and concrete are set with twenty thousand
stained glass inlays of predominently blue, but accents of red, emerald
green and yellow, inspired by the stained glass of the cathedral at Chartres
and designed by Gabriel Loire. A bronze plaque is dedicated to memorialize
Protestant Martyrs who perished under the Nazis, mounted in the church
on July 20, 1964, the anniversary of the Hitler assassination attempt
(see Bendlerblock Resistance Memorial). Next to the 5,000 pipes of the
organ is the Stalingrad Madonna, a symbol of reconciliation with the
(then) Soviet Union honoring the dead of the brutal Battle of Stalingrad
in the winter of 1942. The church belfry rings with six bronze bells
recovered from the old Kaiser Wilhelm church cast from French cannons
captured in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870.
Visiting
The
Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is a short stroll from the am Zoo train
station, near
the Zoo for a combined stop (see Berlin
Zoo). The
Kurfürstendamm underground stop for the U1 or U9 is virtually underneath
and across the street from the Zoo Palast Movie Theater. It is open daily
from 9am to 7pm. Donations are accepted. On a pleasant day you can sample
a traditional Berlin Currywurst from the stand in the square, but don't
ask for a Kaiser Roll, it'll just get a funny confused look. © Bargain
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Kaiser Gedaechtniskirche
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See Also:
CHECKPOINT CHARLIE MAUER MUSEUM
TIPI AM KANZLERAMT - CABARET THEATER
TOPOGRAPHY OF TERROR - NAZI BERLIN
DALI EXHIBITION - SURREALISM AT POTSDAMER PLATZ
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