Ss. Peter and Paul Church on Nikolskoë is a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

church in the Volkspark Glienecke in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is currently administered by the

Evangelical Church of 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 ( ...

. The church is part of the UNESCO

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin (german: Schlösser und Gärten von Potsdam und Berlin) are a group of palace complexes and extended landscape gardens located in the Havelland region around Potsdam and the German capital of Berlin. The ter ...

History

King

Friedrich Wilhelm III Frederick William III (german: Friedrich Wilhelm III.; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, wh ...

had the church built for the residents of Klein-Glienicke and

Pfaueninsel Pfaueninsel (, "Peafowl, Peacock Island") is an island in the River Havel situated in Berlin-Wannsee, in the district of Steglitz-Zehlendorf in southwestern Berlin, near the border with Potsdam in Brandenburg. The island is part of the Palaces a ...

on a bluff on the

Havel The Havel () is a river in northeastern Germany, flowing through the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt. It is a right tributary of the Elbe and long. However, the direct distance from its source to its mo ...

near the Pfaueninsel and the Nikolskoë Blockhouse. It was designed by the architects

Friedrich August Stüler Friedrich August Stüler (28 January 1800 – 18 March 1865) was an influential Prussian architect and builder. His masterpiece is the Neues Museum in Berlin, as well as the dome of the triumphal arch of the main portal of the Berliner Schloss. ...

and . Friedrich Wilhelm selected the Russian style to commemorate the marriage of his daughter

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

to the later Tsar

Nicholas I of Russia Nicholas I , group=pron ( – ) was List of Russian rulers, Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Congress Poland and Grand Duke of Finland. He was the third son of Paul I of Russia, Paul I and younger brother of his predecessor, Alexander I ...

. The king visited them at St. Petersburg in 1818 and for a return visit a year later had a Russian-style blockhouse built in the park at Glienicke, naming it ''Nikolskoë''. In 1832, the king then ordered the construction of the nearby church which took place from 1834 to 1837. It was inaugurated on August 13, 1837. Until 1961, when the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

cut the parish into three separate parts, Ss. Peter and Paul Church was part of the ''Evangelical Congregation of Neubabelsberg'', then comprising a parish in

Potsdam-Babelsberg Babelsberg () is the largest quarter (''Stadtteil'') of Potsdam, the capital city of the German state of Brandenburg. The affluent neighbourhood named after a small hill on the Havel river is famous for Babelsberg Palace and Park, part of the Palac ...

, Klein-Glienicke (divided between Berlin and Potsdam), Nikolskoë and Potsdam-Sacrow with the further chapel in Klein-Glienicke and the

Church of the Redeemer, Sacrow The Protestant Church of the Redeemer (german: Heilandskirche, la, S. Ecclesiae sanctissimi Salvatoris in portu sacro) is located to the south of the village of ''Sacrow'', which since 1939 has been incorporated to Potsdam, the capital of the G ...

. On December 22, 1941, the official ''German Evangelical Church'' called for suited actions by all Protestant church bodies to withhold baptised non-

Aryans Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...

from all spheres of Protestant church life. Many German Christian-dominated congregations followed suit. However, the ''Evangelical Congregation of Neubabelsberg'' handed in a list of signatures in protest against the exclusion of the stigmatised Protestants of Jewish descent.Cf. Evangelisches Zentralarchiv, Berlin: I/C3/172, vol. 3.

Description

The church has a

Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodoxy (russian: Русское православие) is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, whose liturgy is or was traditionally conducted in Church Slavonic language. Most ...

profile, with the noteworthy difference that it has only one

onion dome An onion dome is a dome whose shape resembles an onion. Such domes are often larger in diameter than the tholobate upon which they sit, and their height usually exceeds their width. These bulbous structures taper smoothly to a point. It is a ty ...

, instead of the five usually seen in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Ss. Peter and Paul contains the grave of

Prince Charles of Prussia Prince Frederick Charles Alexander of Prussia (german: Friedrich Karl Alexander; 29 June 1801 – 21 January 1883) was a younger son of Frederick William III of Prussia. He served as a Prussian general for much of his adult life and became the fir ...

. The design of its current

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The glo ...

is based on that of the

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

Garrison Church.

Gallery

File:Berlin St. Peter und Paul Ansicht.jpg, View of Ss. Peter and Paul from the ''Architektonisches Album'' (1842) File:Berlin St. Peter und Paul Schnitt.jpg, Cut out of Ss. Peter and Paul from the ''Architektonisches Album'' (1842) File:Berlin St.Peter und Paul - Schnitt Altarnische.jpg, Altar of Ss. Peter and Paul from the ''Architektonisches Album'' (1842)

References

External links

St. Peter und Paul
auf der Website Kulturführer Berlin

Evangelische Kirche St. Peter und Paul auf Nikolskoe
1837 establishments in Germany PeterPaul Wannsee PeterPaul Berlin PeterPaul Wannsee Berlin PeterPaul Wannsee Berlin PeterPaul Wannsee Berlin PeterPaul Wannsee Frederick William III of Prussia {{Germany-church-stub