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67-570: From 1897 a residential building was erected at the site of the present-day Europa-Center, vis-à-vis the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church and likewise designed in a Neo-Romanesque style according to plans by Franz Schwechten . Then part of Berlin's fashionable "New West" (today also known as "City West"), it was, from 1916, home to the Romanisches Café , a popular meeting place for writers, artists and people in

134-489: A church tax , a surcharge on their normal income tax collected by the states of Germany and passed on to the respective religious body. The structure of the EKD is based on federal principles. Each regional church is responsible for Christian life in its own area while each regional church has its own special characteristics and retains its independence. The EKD carries out joint tasks with which its members have entrusted it. For

201-614: A German air raid on 14 November 1940. To the left of the statue of Christ is an icon cross which was given by the Russian Orthodox Church and handed over in 1988. Outside the hall are four sandstone figures made by Stefan Kaehne. In December 2007, Charles Jeffrey Gray, a former British pilot who carried out World War II bombing raids over Germany, joined a campaign to rescue the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church from decay. After reading about

268-504: A Spanish wooden crucifix dating from the 13th century. The plaque was placed in the church on 20 July 1964, the 20th anniversary of an attempt to assassinate Hitler . Next to this is the Stalingrad Madonna , a symbol of hope and reconciliation. This is a charcoal drawing made by Kurt Reuber during the time he was trapped inside Stalingrad at Christmas 1942. Copies of this drawing have been sent to Coventry Cathedral and

335-598: A cinema hosting so-called Sittenfilme ("films of manners "). A local newspaper described the central site as a "stain on Berlin's calling card". Soon after the division of the city by the construction of the Berlin Wall , in 1961, the situation changed. Upon the reconstruction of the Memorial Church, the West Berlin businessman and investor Karl Heinz Pepper was appointed to oversee the redevelopment of

402-472: A complex with a total floor space of 80,000 square metres, divided into distinct units: a two-storey foundation with a basement and two inner courtyards, a cinema, a hotel, an apartment block, and the box-shaped 86m high-rise, then the highest in Berlin, with 21 storeys and 13,000 square metres of office space. In 2005 the operators of the complex gave the number of shops and food outlets as around 100. On top of

469-471: A depiction of Crown Prince Wilhelm who never became king after his father, Wilhelm II, abdicated the throne in 1918. Other mosaics show important monarchs in medieval Germany, Reformation thinkers and Reformation princes. Bas-relief sculptures illustrate scenes from biblical stories (Jacob wrestling with the angel, Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, and the pietà ), scenes from the life of Kaiser Wilhelm I and symbolic figures representing war and peace. In

536-423: A large Irish pub . The building features prominently in the 1966 spy film The Quiller Memorandum and in the 1981 biographical drama Christiane F. 52°30′16″N 13°20′20″E  /  52.50444°N 13.33889°E  / 52.50444; 13.33889 Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church ( German : Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche ), mostly just known as

603-539: A nave which seated over 2,000 people. The foundation stone was laid on 22 March 1891, which was Wilhelm I's birthday. The church was dedicated on 1 September 1895, the eve of the Day of Sedan . At that time, the entrance hall in the lower section had not yet been completed; that part of the church was not opened and consecrated until 22 February 1906. Construction costs mounted to 6.8 million gold mark , raised primarily through donations. The church design, quite unfamiliar in

670-544: A new development within Protestantism which later spread to other parts of the world. When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, his administration tried to reorganize the old confederation into a unified German Evangelical Church as Hitler wanted to use a single Protestant church to further his own ambitions. However, a division emerged between the Reichskirche , led by the pro-government German Christians , and

737-689: A split in the 20th century and lost a bulk of its adherents in East Germany due to state atheist policies of the former East German government. After 1990, membership was counted and amounted to around the same number as the Roman Catholic Church. In the 21st century, membership in both the Evangelical Church and the Roman Catholic Church stagnates as more people are becoming religious nones. A 2019 study estimated that there were 114,000 unreported victims of sexual abuse in

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804-405: A tower with a chapel to its northeast. The plan of the church is octagonal while the plan of the tower is hexagonal. These components are sited on a plateau measuring 100 metres long and 40 metres wide. The new buildings are constructed of concrete, steel and glass. The walls of the church are made of a concrete honeycomb containing 21,292 stained glass inlays. The glass, designed by Gabriel Loire ,

871-678: Is a federation of twenty Lutheran , Reformed , and United Protestant regional Churches in Germany , collectively encompassing the vast majority of the country's Protestants. In 2022, the EKD had a membership of 19,153,000 members, or 22.7% of the German population. It constitutes one of the largest Protestant bodies in the world. Church offices managing the federation are located in Herrenhausen , Hanover , Lower Saxony . Many of its members consider themselves Lutherans. Historically,

938-880: Is responsible to aid feeble sister churches, especially in Roman Catholic countries and the Protestant diaspora . It has separate branches internationally, the organization in Austria is still called the Gustav-Adolf-Verein. Brot für die Welt is responsible for international development aid. The umbrella of the Protestant Church in Germany comprises 20 regional churches: These bodies are termed Landeskirchen ("Regional Churches") though in most cases, their territories do not correspond to

1005-511: Is the representative and governing body of the Protestant Church in Germany. The Council of the EKD has 15 members jointly elected by the Synod and Church Conference who serve terms of six years. The chairperson of the Council is the church's highest representative. The Church Conference is where member churches, through the representatives of their governing boards, can directly participate in

1072-492: Is unknown, but it can be assumed that it was melted down. However, the ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church were not to remain entirely without bells. In 1954, three iron bells were ordered from the Franz Weeren iron works, which were to serve as clock strike bells from then on. For a long time they did not do their job, because in the course of the new construction of the church a correspondingly representative ringing

1139-564: The Anglican or Roman Catholic churches, however, else there is no common hierarchy supervising the member churches, who are legally independent equals with the EKD being their umbrella. Members of congregations within the member churches – like those of parishes within Catholic dioceses and those enrolled in Jewish congregations also enjoying statutory corporation status – are required to pay

1206-594: The Bauakademie who had distinguished himself with the design of the Anhalter Bahnhof . Schwechten, a native Rhinelander , planned for a large church to be built in a Neo-Romanesque style modelled on the Bonn Minster with a Tuff stone facade. His design included 2,740 square metres (29,500 sq ft) of wall mosaic , a 113 metres (371 ft)-high spire (now 71 metres, or 233 ft) and

1273-479: The Brandenburg region, inspired several architectural projects in the surrounding area, like the Romanisches Café building, also designed by Schwechten. In World War II , on the night of 23 November 1943, the church was extensively damaged in an air raid . Yet it was by no means beyond repair. A remnant of the spire and much of the entrance hall survived intact, as did the altar and the baptistry. After

1340-565: The Confessing Church , which opposed state control of the church. Other Protestant churches aligned themselves with one of these groups, or stayed neutral in this church strife. The postwar church council issued the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt on 19 October 1945, confessing guilt and declaring remorse for indifference and inaction of German Protestants in the face of atrocities committed by Hitler's regime. In 1948,

1407-489: The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hanover and Chairperson of the Council of the EKD from 2009 until February 2010, was the first woman to head the EKD. Blessings of same-sex marriages is practised and allowed in 14 of 20 and Blessing of same-sex unions are allowed in all other member churches. The EKD opposes abortion in most situations but believes it should remain legal. The EKD has undergone

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1474-687: The German Revolution , with the formation of the Weimar Republic and the abdication of the princes of the German states. The system of state churches disappeared with the Weimar Constitution (1919), which brought about disestablishment by the separation of church and state , and there was a desire for the Protestant churches to merge. In fact, a merger was permanently under discussion but never materialised due to strong regional self-confidence and traditions as well as

1541-787: The Memorial Church (German: Gedächtniskirche [ɡəˈdɛçtnɪsˈkɪʁçə] ) is a Protestant church affiliated with the Evangelical Church in Berlin, Brandenburg and Silesian Upper Lusatia , a regional body of the Protestant Church in Germany . It is located in Berlin on the Kurfürstendamm in the centre of the Breitscheidplatz . The original church on the site was built in the 1890s. It

1608-624: The Russian Orthodox Church in Stalingrad (now Volgograd). The third item of art is an icon of the Virgin Mary from Volgograd. The tower is 12 metres in diameter and 53.5 metres high with a flat roof. Atop the tower is a pole carrying a gilded sphere above which is a gilded cross. It contains a belfry with six bronze bells cast from French cannon , booty from the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71. The foundation stone of

1675-517: The government region of Stuttgart . The vast majority of German Protestants belong to a member church of the EKD. With 20,236,000 members in 2020, around 24.3 percent of all Germans belong to a member church of the EKD. Average church attendance is lower, however, with only around a million people (1.2 % of all Germans) attending a service on Sunday. The regional Protestant church bodies accept each other as equals, despite denominational differences. No member church runs congregations or churches in

1742-712: The mainline . English speaking churches such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada likewise retain this use of the term. From the Peace of Augsburg in 1555 to the end of the First World War and the collapse of the German Empire , some Protestant churches were state churches . Each Landeskirche (state or regional church) was the official church of one of

1809-716: The states of Germany , while the respective ruler was the church's formal head (e.g. the King of Prussia headed the Evangelical Church of Prussia's older Provinces as supreme governor), similar to the British monarch 's role as the Supreme Governor of the Church of England . This changed somewhat with growing religious freedom in the 19th century, especially in the republican states of Bremen , Frankfurt (1857), Lübeck , and Hamburg (1860). The greatest change came after

1876-475: The BEK merged with the EKD. While the members are no longer state churches, they enjoy constitutional protection as statutory corporations , and they are still called Landeskirchen , and some have this term in their official names. A modern English translation, however, would be regional church . Apart from some minor changes, the territories of the member churches today reflect Germany's political organisation in

1943-531: The Breitscheidplatz' eastern side. He commissioned the architects Helmut Hentrich and Hubert Petschnigg to design and build an office and shopping complex modelled on American malls. Construction work began in 1963, with artistic consulting by the church architect Egon Eiermann , and on 2 April 1965 the Europa-Center was inaugurated by Governing Mayor Willy Brandt . What had been built was

2010-692: The EKD synod , but they act as individual members of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE). Boundaries of EKD churches within Germany partially resemble those of the states of the Holy Roman Empire and successor forms of German statehood (to the most part 1815 borders ), due to the historically close relationship between individual German states and churches. As for church governance,

2077-464: The EKD and the Catholic Church in Germany combined. The 95% confidence interval comprises 28,000 to 280,000 victims. According to a study published in 2024, pedophilic members of the EKD have sexually abused at least 9,355 minors since 1946. Putting this figure into context, the coordinator of the study clarified that this number of cases was only the tip of the iceberg. The average age of

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2144-581: The Franz Schilling court bell foundry in Apolda . When it was completed, the bell was the largest of its kind in Germany. The large bell, named Queen Luise & Kaiser Wilhelm I, alone weighed 13,230 kg. When the bells arrived in Berlin on 1 June 1895, they were driven through the city in a ceremonial procession and consecrated on 18 June by General Superintendent Faber. Before a bell was installed around 1900, around 20 bell ringers were needed to get

2211-538: The German word evangelisch means "of the Gospel", denoting a Reformation emphasis on sola scriptura , "by scripture alone". Martin Luther encouraged the use of this term alongside Christian . The German term evangelisch corresponds to the broad English category of Protestant rather than to the narrower evangelical movement (in German called evangelikal ), a subset of Protestantism distinct from

2278-787: The Lutheran churches typically practise an episcopal polity , while the Reformed and the United ones a mixture of presbyterian and congregationalist polities. Most member churches are led by a (state) bishop . Only one member church, the Evangelical Reformed Church in Germany , is not restricted to a certain territory. In some ways, the other member churches resemble dioceses of the Catholic and Anglican churches, from an organisational point of view. Etymologically,

2345-529: The Nazi struggle of the churches . This turned the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union into a mere umbrella, being itself a member of EKD (and the BEK, 1969–1991) but covering some regional church bodies, which were again themselves members of EKD (and the BEK, 1969–1991). Since 1973, when many Protestant churches in Europe, including the EKD members, concluded the Leuenberg Agreement , also

2412-638: The Nazi regime's ideology. After the installation of Hanns Kerrl as minister for church matters in a Führer-directive of 16 July 1935 and the foundation of the – in the end not materialising – Protestant Reich Church , the DEK played more or less no further role. In 1948, freed from the German Christians' influence, the Lutheran, Reformed (including the German Reformed Church / Reformierte Kirche ) and United churches came together as

2479-687: The Protestant Church in Germany at the Conference of Eisenach. In 1969, the regional Protestant churches in East Germany and East Berlin broke away from the EKD and formed the League of Evangelical Churches in the German Democratic Republic (German: Bund der Evangelischen Kirchen in der DDR , BEK), in 1970 also joined by the Moravian Herrnhut District. In June 1991, following German reunification ,

2546-676: The Protestant Church in Germany was organized in the aftermath of World War II to function as a new umbrella organization for German Protestant churches. As a result of tensions between West and East Germany , the regional churches in East Germany broke away from the EKD in 1969. In 1991, following German reunification , the East German churches re-joined the EKD. The member churches ( Gliedkirchen ), while being independent and having their own theological and formal organisation, share full altar and pulpit fellowship , and are united in

2613-485: The altar is an octagonal pulpit . Opposite the altar on a gallery is an organ containing about 5,000 pipes, which was built by Karl Schuke . Plexiglas panels have been installed over the organ gallery to improve the acoustics . By the northeast wall of the church are three works of art. The first is a bronze plaque commemorating the Protestant martyrs who died during the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945. It incorporates

2680-556: The area of another member church, thus preventing competing with each other for parishioners. The only exception is the Evangelical Reformed Church, which combines Reformed congregations within the ambits of usually Lutheran member churches, which themselves do not include the eventual local Reformed congregations. Thus, for example, a Lutheran moving from a place where their parish belongs to a Lutheran member church, would be accepted in their new place of domicile by

2747-403: The church was part of a Protestant church-building programme initiated by Kaiser Wilhelm II and his consort Augusta Victoria to counter the German labour movement and socialist movement by a return to traditional religious values. Wilhelm II decided to name the church in honor of his grandfather Kaiser Wilhelm I . The competition for the design was won by Franz Schwechten , member of

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2814-407: The church, opposite the entrance, a figure of the resurrected Christ is suspended above the altar. This is made from tombak and was designed by Karl Hemmeter. The cross on the altar, by Peter Tauchnitz, is of gilt silver with 37 rock crystals. To the left of the altar is the baptismal font on a stand filled with Carrara marble which contains a majolica bowl for the holy water . To the right of

2881-645: The churches' relationship with the new governments improved. It was realised that one mainstream Protestant church for all of Germany was impossible and that any union would need a federal model. The churches met in Dresden in 1919 and created a plan for federation, and this plan was adopted in 1921 at Stuttgart . Then in 1922 the then 28 territorially defined Protestant churches founded the German Evangelical Church Confederation ( Deutscher Evangelischer Kirchenbund , DEK). At

2948-545: The condition of the Church, Gray contacted Wolfgang Kuhla, the chairman of the church's advisory board, urging that its tower be restored. In response, a fund was launched to help raise the costs of its repair. Protestant Church in Germany The Evangelical Church in Germany ( German : Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland , EKD ), also known as the Protestant Church in Germany ,

3015-525: The denominational fragmentation into Lutheran , Reformed , and United and uniting churches . During the Revolution, when the old church governments lost power, the People's Church Union ( Volkskirchenbund ) was formed and advocated unification without respect to theological tradition and also increasing input from laymen . However, the People's Church Union quickly split along territorial lines after

3082-425: The execution of these tasks, the Church has the following governing bodies, all organised and elected on democratic lines: The Synod is the legislature of the EKD. It has 126 members: 106 elected by Landeskirchen synods and 20 appointed by the council. These 20 are appointed for their importance in the life of the Church and its agencies. Members serve six year terms and the synod meets annually. The EKD Council

3149-527: The first formal attempt to unify German Protestantism occurred during the Weimar Republic era in the form of the German Protestant Church Confederation , which existed from 1922 until 1933. Earlier, there had been successful royal efforts at unity in various German states, beginning with Prussia and several minor German states (e.g. Duchy of Nassau ) in 1817. These unions resulted in the first united and uniting churches,

3216-463: The high-rise, and visible across Berlin, is a large metal star-in-a-circle symbol, the logo of car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz . It weighs 15,000 kg, has an outer diameter of 10 metres, completes approximately two revolutions a minute, and glows at night with the help of 681 fluorescent tubes. The shopping mall initially comprised an ice rink (closed in 1974) and the Royal Palast cinema, with

3283-406: The locally competent congregation within another member church, even if this church and its local parish are Reformed or of united Protestant confession, with Lutheran being exchangeable with the two other respective Protestant confessions within the EKD. This is due to full altar and pulpit fellowship between all EKD member churches. In this the ambits of the member churches resemble dioceses of

3350-469: The new church was laid on 9 May 1959, its roofing ceremony was carried out on 16 December 1960, the new bells were consecrated on 19 July 1961, the new church was consecrated on 17 December 1961 and the foyer and chapel were completed in December 1963. In 1894, Kaiser Wilhelm II donated 50,000 pounds of bronze from captured cannons to cast a new bell for the church. Five bells were made in the same year in

3417-481: The north apse are 16 display panels which tell the story of the old church and its destruction. At the opposite end of the hall are three items which symbolise the history of the church. In the middle is a damaged statue of Christ which originally stood on the altar of the old church. To its right is the Cross of Nails which was made from nails in the roof timbers of Coventry Cathedral , which had been severely damaged in

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3484-404: The remnant of the old spire to be torn down, in favor of a completely new construction. But that plan provoked a public outcry in which the ruined tower was characterized as the "heart of Berlin"; as a result Eiermann revised the design to preserve the tower. He had most of the remaining structure pulled down, in order to build the modern church that now occupies most of the site. The new church

3551-486: The theatre business, as well as those who aspired to join them. During a RAF air raid in World War II on the night of 22/23 November 1943, the building burnt down and lay in ruins. After the war, the cleared premises were used only intermittently for more than a decade, according to need. Makeshift constructions were used variously by wrestlers, circus performers and missionaries, followed by food outlets and briefly

3618-555: The then 21 EKD members introduced full communion for their parishioners and ministry among each other. Since also the regional Protestant churches in East Germany had signed the Leuenberg Agreement, thus the then ten members of the Federation of Protestant Churches in the German Democratic Republic practised full communion with the EKD members too. Ordination of women is practised in all 20 member churches with many women having been ordained in recent years. There are also several women serving as bishops. Margot Käßmann , former bishop of

3685-417: The time, the federation was the largest Protestant church federation in Europe with around 40 million members. Because it was a federation of independent bodies, the Church Union's work was limited to foreign missions and relations with Protestant churches outside Germany, especially German Protestants in other countries. In July 1933, the German Evangelical Church ( Deutsche Evangelische Kirche , DEK)

3752-423: The tower's acoustics. The bells were inscribed with bible verses. Different bells are rung on different occasions: The entrance hall in the base of the damaged spire was reopened to visitors, having been consecrated on 7 January 1987. Its floor contains a mosaic of the Archangel Michael fighting the dragon . The vault shows a procession of Hohenzollern princes, designed by Hermann Schaper , and includes

3819-501: The victims is 11 years. Confessions of EKD parishioners Protestantism is the major religion in Northern , Eastern and Middle Germany , with the Reformed branch predominating in the extreme northwest and Lippe , the Lutheran branch in the north and south, and the United branch in Middle and Western Germany . While the majority of Christians in Southern Germany are Catholic , some areas in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria are predominantly Protestant, e.g. Middle Franconia and

3886-486: The war, in 1947, the curatorium of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche foundation (Stiftung) decided in favor of rebuilding the church, but the manner in which this should be done was contentiously debated until the late 1950s. In a two-phased design competition in 1956, the question of whether the secured remnant of the spire should be torn down or preserved was left open. The winner of the competition, architect Egon Eiermann , initially proposed, in both his submissions, for

3953-415: The whole bell ringing. After World War II the bells were free, but a few decades later they were no longer so lucky. Between 1942 and 1943 the larger bells were smashed, while the smallest was allowed to remain on the tower as a ringing bell. When the church went down in a hail of bombs in November 1943, the last remaining bell was severely damaged. In 1949 they were sent back to Apolda. The bell's further fate

4020-434: The work of the EKD. The Church Office is the administration of the EKD and shall the business of the Synod, Council and Conference of the EKD. Main divisions : The EKD Church Office has approximately 200 employees. The EKD holds various charities ("Hilfswerke") under its auspices. The Gustav-Adolf-Werk (GAW) (Gustaphus Adolphus Union formerly) was founded 1832 in Leipzig as the first and eldest such organization and

4087-402: The world's largest projection screen at the time of its opening in 1965 (closed in 2004). There was also an observation deck on the roof. Today's major attractions include " The Clock of Flowing Time ", a 13 metres (43 ft) high water clock of communicating vessels, and the Mengenlehreuhr originally located on nearby Kurfürstendamm . The basement is home to a Kabarett theatre and

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4154-424: The year 1848, with regional churches for states or provinces that often no longer exist or whose borders changed since. For example, between 1945 and 1948, the remaining six ecclesiastical provinces ( Kirchenprovinzen ), each territorially comprising one of the Old Prussia provinces , within the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union assumed independence as a consequence of the estrangement among them during

4221-477: Was badly damaged in a bombing raid in 1943. The present building, which consists of a church with an attached foyer and a separate belfry with an attached chapel, was built between 1959 and 1963. The damaged spire of the old church has been retained and its ground floor has been made into a memorial hall. The Memorial Church today is a famous landmark of western Berlin, and is nicknamed by Berliners "der hohle Zahn" , meaning "the hollow tooth". The construction of

4288-404: Was designed by Eiermann and consists of four buildings grouped around the remaining ruins of the old church. The initial design included the demolition of the spire of the old church but following pressure from the public, it was decided to incorporate it into the new design. The four buildings comprise, on the west of the ruins, the new church with a foyer to its west, and to the east of the ruins,

4355-414: Was desired. In 1960 the time had come: at the Rincker bell and art foundry in Sinn, a 6-part bell and a carillon were created for the old tower. Two of the three iron bells came to Berlin-Neukölln ; what happened to the third is unknown. On 19 July 1961 the new bells and the newly built campanile were inaugurated and put into operation. The bell's sound is affected by its clearly progressive rib, and from

4422-404: Was formed under the influence of the German Christians , a pro- Nazi religious movement. They had much influence over the decisions of the first National Synod , via their unambiguous partisanship in successfully backing Ludwig Müller for the office of Reich bishop. He did not manage, however, to prevail over the Landeskirchen in the long term. The Confessing Church arose in resistance to

4489-422: Was inspired by the colours of the glass in Chartres Cathedral . The predominant colour is blue, with small areas of ruby red, emerald green and yellow. The church is 35 metres in diameter and 20.5 metres high with a capacity of over 1,000. Because of the distinctive appearance of the new buildings, it is sometimes nicknamed Lippenstift und Puderdose (the lipstick and the powder box ) by Berliners. Inside

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