The Parochialkirche (literally the Reformed parochial church) is a Reformed church in the Klosterviertel neighbourhood of the Mitte borough in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. The church, now a

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, was built between 1695 and 1703. It is the oldest church in Berlin built as a Protestant place of worship. The church is now used and owned by the congregation of St. Mary's and St. Peter's, the merger of the parishes in the historical city center concluded on 23 September 2005. The congregation forms part of the

Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia The Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia (german: Evangelische Kirche Berlin-Brandenburg-schlesische Oberlausitz, EKBO) is a United Protestant church body in the German states of Brandenburg, Berlin and a part of Saxony ...

, a Protestant regional church body comprising Lutheran, Reformed and

united Protestant A united church, also called a uniting church, is a church formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestant Christian denominations. Historically, unions of Protestant churches were enforced by the state ...

congregations.

Name

When the

prince-elector The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, la, Princeps Elector), or electors for short, were the members of the electoral college that elected the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century onwards, the prin ...

al family of Brandenburg, the Berlin-based Hohenzollern, converted from

Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

Calvinism Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

(in German usually: Reformed Church; in English mostly: Presbyterian church) in 1613, all parish churches of Berlin, then under the patronage and

advowson Advowson () or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living ...

of the Lutheran city council, remained Lutheran. So only the Cölln Palace and Collegiate Church, the

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in acco ...

church, was dedicated as a Reformed place of worship. However, mainly by immigration the number of ordinary German-speaking Berliners of Reformed denomination, not employed at or belonging to the court, grew and a separate parochial church for them, as opposed to the Palace Reformed Church, was needed. Parochialkirche was the first and then only Reformed church for prevailingly ordinary Reformed congregants in Berlin, thus the undifferentiated name. As a Reformed church building Parochialkirche is not dedicated or even consecrated to any

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

. The church was erected in Klosterstraße at the corner with Freier Fahrweg (renamed Parochialstraße in 1862), because the sites along Klosterstraße then formed a prince-electoral immunity district (kurfürstliche Freiheit), not under the legislation of the Lutheran city council, in order to circumvent the council's objection against its construction.

History

1944 to present

Firebombing on 24 May 1944 completely destroyed the tower and the interior of the church. In 1946 a makeshift floor was built from the porch into the church, which could not be structurally secured until 1950–1951.

Fritz Kühn Fritz Kühn (29 April 1910 - 31 July 1967) was an East German visual artist whose output included sculpture, metal-artwork and photography. Life Provenance and early years Fritz Kühn was born into a Protestant family in the Mariendorf district ...

made a cross from scrap iron found in the ruins, which was hung in the sanctuary in 1961. The last religious service took place in the building on 20 August 1961 and for the rest of the East Berlin-era the building was used for exhibitions and concerts and then (from 1970) as a furniture warehouse. A new roof was put on in 1988. From 1991 onwards the building was gradually restored. Works on the porch and tower were postponed in 2001 and on the nave in 2004. In summer 2016, the bell tower dome with the golden sun was restored after 72 years and the carillon with 52 bells has been rung since 23 October 2016 from the Parochialkirche's 65 m tower.Parochialkirche - The oldest church of the Reformed Protestant community in Berlin
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Cemetery

The church's cemetery is one of the oldest surviving ones in Berlin and includes the tomb of the Reformed theologian

Daniel Ernst Jablonski Daniel Ernst Jablonski (20 November 1660, Nassenhuben (Mokry Dwór), Royal Prussia, Crown of Poland25 May 1741, Berlin) was a German theologian and reformer of Czech origin, known for his efforts to bring about a union between Lutheran and Ca ...

Gallery

References

{{Authority control Berlin Parochial Reformed church buildings in Germany Protestant churches in Berlin

Parochial Parochial is an adjective which may refer to: * Parishes, in religion ** Parish churches, also called parochial churches * Parochial schools, primary or secondary schools affiliated to a religious organisation * Parochialism Parochialism is the ...

Berlin Parochial Baroque architecture in Berlin Berlin Parochial 1702 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire