Marienkirche - Berlin, Germany
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member Marine Biologist
N 52° 31.231 E 013° 24.392
33U E 391884 N 5820127
Marienkirche (English: St. Mary's Church) is a former Roman Catholic church that is now a Lutheran church. The church was constructed in the late 13th and early 14th centuries.
Waymark Code: WMMRXY
Location: Berlin, Germany
Date Posted: 10/31/2014
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member fi67
Views: 47

St. Mary's Church, known in German as the Marienkirche, is a church in Berlin, Germany. It is located on Karl-Liebknecht-Straße (formerly Kaiser-Wilhelm-Straße) in central Berlin, near Alexanderplatz. The exact age of the original church site and structure is not precisely known, but it was first mentioned in German chronicles in 1292. It is presumed to date from earlier in the 13th century. The architecture of the building is now largely composed of comparatively modern restoration work which took place in the late 19th century and in the post-war period. The church was originally a Roman Catholic church, but has been a Lutheran Protestant church since the Protestant Reformation.

Overview

Marienkirche is the church of the bishop of the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia with Berlin Cathedral being under joint supervision of all the member churches of the Union of Evangelical Churches.

Along with the Nikolaikirche, the Marienkirche is the oldest church in Berlin. The oldest parts of the church are made from granite, but most of it is built of brick, giving it its characteristic bright red appearance. This was deliberately copied in the construction of the nearby Berlin City Hall, the Rotes Rathaus. During World War II, it was heavily damaged by Allied bombs. After the war the church was in East Berlin, and in the 1950s it was restored by the East German authorities.

Before World War II, the Marienkirche was in the middle of a densely populated part of the district of Mitte, and was in regular use as a parish church. After the war, this area was cleared of ruined buildings and today the church stands in the open spaces around the Alexanderplatz, and is overshadowed by the East Berlin television tower, the Fernsehturm.

There is a striking statue of Martin Luther outside the church. The Marienkirche also contains the tomb of Field Marshal Otto Christoph von Sparr. Carl Hildebrand Freiherr von Canstein, the founder of the oldest Bible society of the world, the Cansteinsche Bibelanstalt, was buried here in 1719."

--Wikipedia (visit link)

"Construction began toward the end of the 13th century, around 1270, and was completed early in the 14th century. It was built as an early Gothic hall church. In the 15th century it acquired the tower at the front, and in 1790 the architect Carl Gotthard Langhans (the architect of the Brandenburg Gate) crowned the tower with a Baroque and Neo-Gothic dome."

--Church Website (visit link)
Adresse/Adress:
Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 8
Berlin, Germany
10178


Baujahr/Year of construction: 1270-1280

Denkmalnummer/monument number: 09011280

Bestätigung/confirmation:

Ja/Yes


Visit Instructions:
Ein selbstgemachtes Foto des Denkmals wird zum Loggen benötigt.
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A picture taken during your visit is required.
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