Jerusalem's Church
Encyclopedia
Jerusalem's Church is one of the churches of the Evangelical
Prussian Union (Evangelical Christian Church)
The Prussian Union was the merger of the Lutheran Church and the Reformed Church in Prussia, by a series of decrees – among them the Unionsurkunde – by King Frederick William III...

 Congregation in the Friedrichstadt (under this name since 2001), a member of the Protestant umbrella organisation Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia
Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia
The Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia is a Protestant church body in the German states of Brandenburg, Berlin and a part of Saxony. The seat of the church is in Berlin. It is the most important Protestant denomination in the area....

. The present church building is located in Berlin, borough Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg is the second borough of Berlin, formed in 2001 by merging the former East Berlin borough of Friedrichshain and the former West Berlin borough of Kreuzberg...

, in the quarter of Friedrichstadt
Friedrichstadt (Berlin)
Friedrichstadt was an independent suburb of Berlin, and is now a historical neighborhood of the city itself. The neighborhood is named after the Prussian king Frederick I.-Geography:...

. Jerusalem's Church is fourth in rank of the oldest oratories in the town proper (except of suburbs incorporated in 1920, which are partly older).

Early history of Roman Catholic Jerusalem's Church

A certain Müller, a burgher
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...

 of Berlin, endowed a chapel in gratitude for his lucky rescue from a Saracen
Saracen
Saracen was a term used by the ancient Romans to refer to a people who lived in desert areas in and around the Roman province of Arabia, and who were distinguished from Arabs. In Europe during the Middle Ages the term was expanded to include Arabs, and then all who professed the religion of Islam...

 assault during his pilgrimage
Pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...

 to Jerusalem. On 18 October 1484 Arnold von Burgsdorff, Prince-Bishop of Brandenburg
Bishop of Brandenburg
The Bishopric of Brandenburg was a Roman Catholic diocese established by Otto the Great in 948, including the territory between the Elbe on the west, the Oder on the east, and the Schwarze Elster on the south, and taking in the Uckermark to the north. Its seat was Brandenburg upon Havel...

, issued an indulgence, promising all those helping to restore the chapel 40 days less in the purgatory
Purgatory
Purgatory is the condition or process of purification or temporary punishment in which, it is believed, the souls of those who die in a state of grace are made ready for Heaven...

. The indulgence is the oldest surviving document mentioning the chapel, then consecrated to Mary(am) of Nazareth, the Holy Cross
Christian cross
The Christian cross, seen as a representation of the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, is the best-known religious symbol of Christianity...

, the blessed Pope Fabian
Pope Fabian
Pope Fabian was Pope from January 10, 236 to January 20, 250, succeeding Pope Anterus.Eusebius of Caesarea relates how the Christians, having assembled in Rome to elect a new bishop, saw a dove alight upon the head of Fabian, a layman and stranger to the city, who was thus marked out for this...

, and Sebastianus of Narbonne. The Chapel was then located in the fields about 1 km outside of St. Gertrud's Gate (close to today's Gertraudenbrücke) of the city of Cölln
Cölln
In the 13th century Cölln was the sister town of Old Berlin , located on the southern Spree Island in the Margraviate of Brandenburg. Today the island is located in the historic core of the central Mitte locality of modern Berlin...

 (a part of today's borough Mitte
Mitte
Mitte is the first and most central borough of Berlin. It was created in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform by the merger of the former districts of Mitte proper, Tiergarten and Wedding; the resulting borough retained the name Mitte. It is one of the two boroughs which comprises former West and...

 of Berlin) on the highway to Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....

 and Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

 (today's Axel-Springer-Straße and Lindenstraße).

The chapel was known for its copy of the Holy Sepulchre, as imagined at that time. This structure within the chapel earned it its name, which in 1540 appeared first in a document (Capella zu Hierusalem). Also the present north-south directed street then ending at the chapel thus got its name Jerusalemer Straße in 1706. In 1484 a warden (Kleuser, literally Hermit
Hermit
A hermit is a person who lives, to some degree, in seclusion from society.In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Christian who lives the eremitic life out of a religious conviction, namely the Desert Theology of the Old Testament .In the...

) took care of the chapel and collected alms
Alms
Alms or almsgiving is a religious rite which, in general, involves giving materially to another as an act of religious virtue.It exists in a number of religions. In Philippine Regions, alms are given as charity to benefit the poor. In Buddhism, alms are given by lay people to monks and nuns to...

 from the passing travellers for the pertaining hospital.

As a Lutheran place of worship (1539–1682)

In 1539 Prince Elector Joachim II Hector
Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg
Joachim II Hector was a Prince-elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg . A member of the House of Hohenzollern, Joachim II was the son of Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg, and his wife Elizabeth of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden...

 converted from Catholicism to Lutheranism
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...

, as many of his subjects had done earlier. The Jerusalem's Chapel thus became Lutheran too, like most of the electoral subjects and all the churches in the Electorate of Brandenburg. During the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) with its severe decimation of the population chapel and hospital were given up.

In 1680 Johann Martitz, an Electoral Councillor, donated a new hospital dedicated to the inhabitants of Friedrichswerder, an adjacent city under electoral domination, founded in 1658 next to Cölln, a city of town privileges
Town privileges
Town privileges or city rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium.Judicially, a town was distinguished from the surrounding land by means of a charter from the ruling monarch that defined its privileges and laws. Common privileges were related to trading...

. Frederick William, the Great Elector, the founder of Friedrichswerder, bestowed the deserted chapel as the first, then Calvinist parish church to the new city. In 1662 Friedrichswerder got its own church within the city's boundary, the Friedrichswerder Church
Friedrichswerder Church
The Friedrichswerder Church was the first Neo-Gothic church built in Berlin, Germany. It was designed by an architect better known for his Neoclassical architecture, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, and was built under his direction, 1824-1831....

.

As a Calvinist and Lutheran Simultaneum (1682–1830)

In 1682 Jerusalem's Chapel became a Calvinist and Lutheran simultaneum
Simultaneum
A shared church, or Simultankirche, Simultaneum or, more fully, simultaneum mixtum, a term first coined in 16th century Germany, is a church in which public worship is conducted by adherents of two or more religious groups. Such churches became common in Europe in the wake of the Reformation...

. In 1688 Prince-Elector Frederick III
Frederick I of Prussia
Frederick I , of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia in personal union . The latter function he upgraded to royalty, becoming the first King in Prussia . From 1707 he was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...

 founded another new city under electoral domination, Friedrichstadt
Friedrichstadt (Berlin)
Friedrichstadt was an independent suburb of Berlin, and is now a historical neighborhood of the city itself. The neighborhood is named after the Prussian king Frederick I.-Geography:...

, which included Jerusalem's Chapel in its municipal boundary. In 1689 and 1693–1695 Giovanni Simonetti restored and extended the chapel to become Jerusalem's Church, which was continuously staffed with a Calvinist and a Lutheran preacher from 1694 on. In 1701 the Judge Krause at the Kammergericht
Kammergericht
The Kammergericht is the Oberlandesgericht for the state of Berlin. Its name differs from Germany's other state courts for historic reasons. There are no other courts called Kammergericht in Germany.-Overview:...

 (then Supreme Court of Brandenburg) added a sepulchre chapel for his family to the church building.

In 1708 the parish of Jerusalem's Church, meanwhile too small for the Calvinist and the Lutheran parishioners, was divided, when the New Church, another simultaneum, was opened and took over the northern part of the parish district. Both Calvinist and both Lutheran congregations of the New Church and of Jerusalem's Church kept a kind of parish federation, e.g. maintaining common cemeteries, three of which are comprised – with cemeteries of other congregations – in a compound of an overall of six cemeteries.

They are among the most important historical cemeteries of Berlin. They are located in Berlin-Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg, a part of the combined Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte since 2001, is one of the best-known areas of Berlin...

 south of Hallesches Tor (Berlin U-Bahn)
Hallesches Tor (Berlin U-Bahn)
The underground station Hallesches Tor is part of the Berlin U-Bahn network at the intersection of the east-west bound U1 and the north-south bound U6 in the Kreuzberg district.-Overview:...

 (Friedhöfe vor dem Halleschen Tor). With effect from 1 January 1710 Friedrichstadt (and thus the parish of Jerusalem's Church) and four other cities were united to form the Royal Residence and Capital City of Berlin .

Frederick William I of Prussia
Frederick William I of Prussia
Frederick William I of the House of Hohenzollern, was the King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death...

 commanded on 1 November 1725 to build the church building, the foundation stone was laid on 27 November 1727 and since 1728 has been built on the church building. In 1728–1731 Philipp Gerlach replaced the old structure including the sepulchre chapel by a new church building, whose southerly tower had a wooden top, which – poorly built as it was – had to be torn down again in 1747. The tower then remained a stump. Due to the position of the site in the middle of a crossroads with streets entering from five directions the quire of the church was not oriented
Orientation of Churches
The orientation of churches is the architectural feature of facing churches towards the east .The Jewish custom of fixing the direction of prayer and orienting synagogues influenced Christianity during its formative years. In early Christianity, it was customary to pray facing toward the Holy Land...

, but directed to the north.

In 1817, under the auspices of King Frederick William III of Prussia
Frederick William III of Prussia
Frederick William III was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel .-Early life:...

, the Calvinist and the Lutheran congregations at Jerusalem's Church, like most Prussian Protestant congregations, joined the common umbrella organisation called the Evangelical Church in Prussia (under this name since 1821), with each congregation maintaining its former denomination or adopting the new united denomination. At first both congregations maintained their respective denomination, thus continuing the simultaneum
Simultaneum
A shared church, or Simultankirche, Simultaneum or, more fully, simultaneum mixtum, a term first coined in 16th century Germany, is a church in which public worship is conducted by adherents of two or more religious groups. Such churches became common in Europe in the wake of the Reformation...

.

As a Prussian Union place of worship (1830–1941)

In 1830 the congregations merged and adopted the new denomination of the Prussian Union
Prussian Union (Evangelical Christian Church)
The Prussian Union was the merger of the Lutheran Church and the Reformed Church in Prussia, by a series of decrees – among them the Unionsurkunde – by King Frederick William III...

. The parish federation with the congregations of the New Church ended then. In 1838 – maybe as reward for adopting the Union – Karl Friedrich Schinkel
Karl Friedrich Schinkel
Karl Friedrich Schinkel was a Prussian architect, city planner, and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed both neoclassical and neogothic buildings.-Biography:Schinkel was born in Neuruppin, Margraviate of...

 rebuilt the church on state expenses and added a new tower top, reaching the height of 72 m.

In 1878/1879 Edmund Knoblauch completely restructured Jerusalem's Church, only keeping its curtain walls, which were covered with a new layer of yellow bricks and decorated with terracotta forms. Inside the prayer hall were 1,400 seats, illuminated by stained glass windows and covered by a structured wooden ceiling. In the following years the congregation lost many of its parishioners because its parish became commercialised and huge edifices of publishing houses and insurances gradually superseded the prior residential buildings. The number of parishioners shrunk to 10,000 (1933), then considered a small number for an urban congregation. Thus in July 1933 the congregation reunited with that of the New Church, reducing the number of pastors at Jerusalem's Church from two to one.

During the Struggle of the Churches

During the Third Reich the congegration and the umbrella, to which it belonged, fell into deep disunity (For the general outline see Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union and Struggle of the Churches
Kirchenkampf
Kirchenkampf is a German term that translates as "struggle of the churches" or "church struggle" in English. The term is sometimes used ambiguously, and may refer to one or more of the following different church struggles:...

). The polarisation within the old-Prussian Church started already before the Nazi takeover in 1933. In the orderly election of the presbyter
Presbyter
Presbyter in the New Testament refers to a leader in local Christian congregations, then a synonym of episkopos...

s and synodals on 13 November 1932 the Nazi Faith Movement of German Christians
German Christians
The Deutsche Christen were a pressure group and movement within German Protestantism aligned towards the antisemitic and Führerprinzip ideological principles of Nazism with the goal to align German Protestantism as a whole towards those principles...

 ran for the first time for seats in the presbyteries of the congregations and synod
Synod
A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...

s of the old-Prussian church body
Landeskirche
In Germany and Switzerland, a Landeskirche is the church of a region. They originated as the national churches of the independent states, States of Germany or Cantons of Switzerland , that later unified to form modern Germany or modern Switzerland , respectively.-Origins in the Holy Roman...

. The Positive Union, a conservative church party with traditions back in the 19th c., had no candidates running for presbytership in the congregation of Jerusalem's Church, thus many nationalist parishioners rather voted for the German Christians. Among the congregations in the inner city of Berlin that of Jerusalem's Church was one of the four, where the German Christians gained already at this time a, narrow though, majority of the seats in the presbytery .

Jerusalem's Church then belonged to the deanery Friedrichswerder I, whose superintendent
Superintendent (ecclesiastical)
Superintendent is the head of an administrative division of a Protestant church, largely historical but still in use in Germany.- Superintendents in Sweden :...

 (cleric in chief in a deanery) Friedrich Geest (1868–1940), pastor of confidence of Paul von Hindenburg
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg , known universally as Paul von Hindenburg was a Prussian-German field marshal, statesman, and politician, and served as the second President of Germany from 1925 to 1934....

, held an ambiguous position as to the Nazi opposing Confessing Church
Confessing Church
The Confessing Church was a Protestant schismatic church in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church.-Demographics:...

. The liberal D. Alfred Fischer (1874–1940), since 1901 pastor at Jerusalem's Church and opposing the German Christians, and his younger colleague Dr. Rudolf Köhler (until May 1933) had hard times with them dominating the presbytery since 1932. At the unconstitutional premature re-election of the presbyters and synodals, discretionarily decreed by Hitler for 23 July 1933 the German Christians could increase their share of the seats in the presbytery to 65%. Their presbyterial speaker Walter Hartig, president (Obermeister) of Berlin's professional association of the men's tailors (Herrenschneiderinnung), tried to establish the Führerprinzip
Führerprinzip
The Führerprinzip , German for "leader principle", prescribes the fundamental basis of political authority in the governmental structures of the Third Reich...

 within the congregation. Fischer, being by his office as senior pastor chief executive of the presbytery, was supported in his fight by the other opposing presbyters Justizrat Eschenbach, Köhler, Otto Nagler, the director Seibt, and the merchant Zaepke, but Fischer, being already an old man, did not stand the permanent quarrels.

Following the merger with the congregation of the New Church one of its pastors, Dr. Curt Horn, started to also serve at Jerusalem's Church and Horn joined in May 1934 the German Christians. Thus in 1934 Eschenbach, a longtime presbyter, resigned from the presbytery. Fischer retired from ministry in 1936. Soon the German Christians in the presbytery fell out with each other, some siding with Hartig (now representing the radical Thuringian branch of the German Christians), others with Horn, blaming each other to use psychological terror and authoritarianism against each other. Horn, preserving some dignity as a pastor, requested the presbytery to reaccept Martha Fränkel (then living in Kochstraße 62), a parishioner of Jewish descent. Geest sided with the somewhat more moderate Horn, but in 1940 the consistory
Consistory
-Antiquity:Originally, the Latin word consistorium meant simply 'sitting together', just as the Greek synedrion ....

 of the March of Brandenburg ecclesiastical province within the old-Prussian Church decided to completely dissolve the presbytery of the united congregation of Jerusalem's Church and New Church, for it had turned – with all its quarrels – incapacitated to function.

After 1936 Fischer still held contact with some parishioners. Christiane Ilisch (daughter of the Protestant literary historian Dr. Heinrich Spiero, classified a Jew, meaning within the Nazi ideology a member of a genetic group not a religion, which one could choose or secede from) and her husband asked Fischer to baptise their children. The German Christian-dominated presbytery denied it to them, regarding Christianity a religion reserved for persons of so-called Aryan
Aryan
Aryan is an English language loanword derived from Sanskrit ārya and denoting variously*In scholarly usage:**Indo-Iranian languages *in dated usage:**the Indo-European languages more generally and their speakers...

 blood and therefore to be denied to persons fully or partially of Jewish descent. Fischer thus baptised the children in a ceremony held in the Ilischs' private apartment. In 1941 Jerusalem's Church, whose services after all the quarrels hardly attracted any congregants any more, was closed as a place of worship.

As a Romanian Orthodox place of worship (1944–1945)

In August 1943, the Kingdom of Romania
Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...

 bought the church building and the pertaining rectory
Rectory
A rectory is the residence, or former residence, of a rector, most often a Christian cleric, but in some cases an academic rector or other person with that title...

 and conveyed them to the Romanian Orthodox congregation of Berlin (est. September 1940). The church was then refurbished according to Orthodox liturgical requirements. On 24 January 1944 Archpriest Emilian Vasiloschi consecrated Jerusalem's Church as the Romanian Orthodox
Romanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...

 Church of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel and celebrated the first service with the congregants from Berlin.

This was not to last for long, because most buildings in the neighbourhood, including Jerusalem's Church and rectory, were destroyed in the area bombardment
Area bombardment
In military aviation, area bombardment is aerial bombardment targeted indiscriminately at a large area, such as a city block or an entire city.Area bombing is a form of strategic bombing...

 organised and carried out by the United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 on 3 February 1945.

Ruined state and the new building of 1968

After long negotiations with the People's Republic of Romania the Senate of Berlin
Senate of Berlin
The Senate of Berlin is the executive body governing the city of Berlin, which at the same time is a state of Germany. According to the Constitution of Berlin the Senate consists of the Governing Mayor of Berlin and up to eight Senators appointed by the Governing Mayor, two of whom are appointed ...

 bought the site with the ruins of Jerusalem's Church, which were afterwards demolished (March 1961). The site was cleared and integrated into the wider crossroads of today's Axel-Springer-Straße (from northeast), Lindenstraße (from southwest), Oranienstraße (from the southeast) and Rudi-Dutschke-Straße (from the west). The access of Jerusalemer Straße (from the north) was blocked by the new office building of Axel Springer Verlag publishing house (1959–1966). The publishing house paid for a little memorial for the church and the setting of cobble stones, laid into the asphalt of the crossroads, to indicate the contour of the former outside walls.

With the erection of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...

 in August 1961, the parish district of Jerusalem's and New Church congregation was divided, with the New Church being in the politically eastern old Mitte
Mitte
Mitte is the first and most central borough of Berlin. It was created in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform by the merger of the former districts of Mitte proper, Tiergarten and Wedding; the resulting borough retained the name Mitte. It is one of the two boroughs which comprises former West and...

 borough, and the geographically southern Friedrichstadt in the politically western borough of Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg, a part of the combined Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte since 2001, is one of the best-known areas of Berlin...

. The politically western section of the congregation under the presbyters Werner Gericke, Günter Heyder, Erwin Köhn and Georg Schmidt decided to erect a new church building.

On the first Advent
Advent
Advent is a season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday, called Levavi...

 1967 (3 December) General Superintendent
Superintendent (ecclesiastical)
Superintendent is the head of an administrative division of a Protestant church, largely historical but still in use in Germany.- Superintendents in Sweden :...

 Hans-Martin Helbich, competent for the Sprengel I (the then diocese of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg comprising Berlin {West}
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...

), laid the cornerstone on a site somewhat more south on Lindenstraße at the corner of Markgrafenstraße, diagonally opposite to the now Jewish Museum Berlin
Jewish Museum Berlin
The Jewish Museum Berlin , in Berlin, Germany, covers two millennia of German Jewish history. It consists of two buildings. One is the old Kollegienhaus, a former courthouse, built in the 18th century. The other, a new addition specifically built for the museum, designed by world-renowned architect...

 (whose entrance building comprises the Collegiengebäude). The architect Sigrid Kressmann-Zschach built the new Jerusalem's Church after her designs. Pastor Herbert Kriwath inaugurated the new church building on the fourth Advent 1968 (22 December). Axel Springer
Axel Springer
Axel Springer , was a German journalist and the founder and owner of the Axel Springer AG publishing company.-Early life:...

 donated the campanile
Campanile
Campanile is an Italian word meaning "bell tower" . The term applies to bell towers which are either part of a larger building or free-standing, although in American English, the latter meaning has become prevalent.The most famous campanile is probably the Leaning Tower of Pisa...

 and the bells. The walls of church and campanile are from concrete and partly covered with red bricks.

Since the creation of the Congregation in the Friedrichstadt in 2001, a merger of three prior congregations, the congregation does not hold services any more in Jerusalem's Church, but in two other functioning churches, Luke's Church and French Church of Friedrichstadt, out of its four church buildings altogether. Jerusalem's Church is now used as a convention centre for groups active in Christian Jewish dialogue. Since 2002 the church also hosts the Dutch Oecumenical Congregation of Berlin, which regularly celebrates its services there.

Furnishings

The old church building housed a famous organ, a masterpiece built by Wilhelm Sauer and often played in concerts, which burnt on 3 February 1945. The typical Protestant Kanzelaltar, combining pulpit and altar table, was removed in the remodelling for orthodox liturgy, needing an iconostasis
Iconostasis
In Eastern Christianity an iconostasis is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a church. Iconostasis also refers to a portable icon stand that can be placed anywhere within a church...

. Other, movable furnishings were translocated, when the church was closed in 1941. The carrara statue of Jesus of Nazareth, created in 1898 by Prof. Adolf Brütt or his disciple Franz Tübbecke after Paul Heisler, from the old altar stands now in the chapel (since 29 May 2005 used as Bulgarian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Boris the Baptiser
Boris I of Bulgaria
Boris I, also known as Boris-Mihail and Bogoris was the Knyaz of First Bulgarian Empire in 852–889. At the time of his baptism in 864, Boris was named Michael after his godfather, Emperor Michael III...

) on the Friedhof V der Jerusalems- und Neuen Kirchengemeinde (Cemetery No. V of the congregations of Jerusalem's Church and New Church) in Berlin-Rixdorf, Hermannstr. 83–90.

The new building of Jerusalem's Church houses a Jugendstil altar crucifix, which in 1942 goldsmith H. J. Wilm donated for the New Church, further two altar candlesticks from New Church and the 1838-created christening bowl from old Jerusalem's Church (donated by Luise Brandenburg, née Wassmannsdorf). Two commemorative plaques from the old church building are fixed on the outside wall, recalling that King Frederick William I of Prussia
Frederick William I of Prussia
Frederick William I of the House of Hohenzollern, was the King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death...

 commissioned Gerlach to begin and finish the construction of a new Jerusalem's Church in 1728 and 1731.

Cemeteries

The congregation comprised many known Berliners as parishioners since its parish included quarters of central Berlin fancy to live in among the better off in the 19th century. The cemeteries still preserve many graves of known parishioners. The cemeteries are each called Friedhof der Jerusalems- und Neuen Kirche and are numbered:
  • Friedhof I der Jerusalems- und Neuen Kirche, opened in the 1730s, Zossener Straße opposite to #58, Berlin-Kreuzberg
  • Friedhof II der Jerusalems- und Neuen Kirche, opened in the mid-18th c., access via Friedhof I
  • Friedhof III der Jerusalems- und Neuen Kirche, opened in 1819, Mehringdamm 21 (near the homonymous U-Bahn station
    Mehringdamm (Berlin U-Bahn)
    Mehringdamm is a Berlin U-Bahn station located on the and the .Opened in 1924 as Belle-Alliance Strasse it was built by Grenander and later renovated by Rümmler. In 1946 the station was renamed Franz-Mehring-Strasse, after the socialist politician. In 1947, the station received it's current name...

    ), Berlin-Kreuzberg
  • Friedhof IV der Jerusalems- und Neuen Kirche, opened in 1852, Bergmannstraße 45–47, Berlin-Kreuzberg
  • Friedhof V der Jerusalems- und Neuen Kirche, opened in 1872, Hermannstraße 84–90, Berlin-Neukölln (close to Leinestraße U-Bahn station
    Leinestraße (Berlin U-Bahn)
    Leinestraße is a Berlin U-Bahn station located on the .The station was built by Alfred Grenander and A.Fehse in 1929. In the 30s the southern tunnel was elongated and it served as air raid protection....

    )

Noteworthy Parishioners

  • Adelbert von Chamisso
    Adelbert von Chamisso
    Adelbert von Chamisso was a German poet and botanist.- Life :He was born Louis Charles Adélaïde de Chamissot at the château of Boncourt at Ante, in Champagne, France, the ancestral seat of his family...

  • Wilhelm Heinrich von Grolman
    Wilhelm Heinrich von Grolman
    Wilhelm Heinrich von Grolman was a German jurist, president of the Prussian Kammergericht , and Wirklicher Geheimer Rat ....

  • Richard G. Salomon
    Richard G. Salomon
    Richard Georg Salomon was an historian of eastern European medieval history and historian of the Episcopal Church in the United States, who taught at the University of Hamburg in Germany and at Kenyon College and its Episcopal Church seminary Bexley Hall in Ohio USA.-Early life and education:The...

  • Hermann, Freiherr von Soden
    Hermann, Freiherr von Soden
    Baron Hermann von Soden , German biblical scholar, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on August 16, 1852, and was educated at the University of Tübingen. He was minister of Dresden-Striesen in 1881 and in 1887 became minister of the Jerusalem Church in Berlin...


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK