Trinity Church (''Dreifaltigkeitskirche'') was a
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
Protestant church in Berlin, eastern Germany, dedicated to the
Holy Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...
. It was opened in August 1739 and destroyed in November 1943, with its rubble removed in 1947.
It was located in the
Friedrichstadt
Friedrichstadt (; da, Frederiksstad) is a town in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the river Eider approx. 12 km south of Husum.
History
The town was founded in 1621 by Dutch settlers. Du ...
district (now part of the
Mitte
Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding.
It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreuzb ...
borough), at the intersection of Mauerstraße, Kanonierstraße (now known as Glinkastraße) and
Mohrenstraße
Mohrenstraße is a street in central Berlin. It runs from west to east between Wilhelmstraße and , and partially forming the southern edge of Gendarmenmarkt. The Berlin U-Bahn station Mohrenstraße is located at its western end, and is serve ...
at the postcode 10117 Berlin. Three domestic houses used as a vicarages were built on Glinkastraße/Taubenstraße and the two which survived World War II are still part of the parish today (Glinkastraße 16 and Taubenstraße 3.). A similar church, the 1737 Böhmische Bethlehems-Kirche was also nearby (Bethlehemskirchplatz).
History
The expansion of Berlin by
Frederick William I of Prussia
Frederick William I (german: Friedrich Wilhelm I.; 14 August 1688 – 31 May 1740), known as the "Soldier King" (german: Soldatenkönig), was King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death in 1740, as well as Prince of Neuch ...
led to a need for new church buildings. The first stone for Trinity Church was laid in August 1737 and Titus Favre made head of works. It was designed by
Christian August Naumann as a circular building with four short projections, suggesting a cross shape.
It also had a 22m diameter dome over the centre of the cross, consisting of a tiled wooden structure with an octagonal lantern that served as bell tower and internal decoration representing the Four Evangelists. The nave was initially surrounded by three galleries, with the pulpit altar, organ and a second altar on the east side. The church was inaugurated on 30 August 1739 and for around a hundred years after that was the newest Protestant church building in Berlin. Its first pastor, the teacher and theologian
Julius Hecker, was appointed by Frederick William himself.
During
Napoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
's occupation of Berlin the church was temporarily used as a barracks, whilst the theologian
Friedrich Schleiermacher
Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (; 21 November 1768 – 12 February 1834) was a German Reformed theologian, philosopher, and biblical scholar known for his attempt to reconcile the criticisms of the Enlightenment with traditional P ...
preached there from 1809 to 1834 and also
confirmed
In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an affirmation of belief. It involves laying on ...
the future chancellor
Otto von Bismarck
Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of J ...
in the church in 1831.
Schleiermacher, who had made the case for a
union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
of the Lutheran and Calvinist congregations in
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
, persuaded the congregation not only to join the united umbrella
Evangelical Church in Prussia
The Prussian Union of Churches (known under multiple other names) was a major Protestant church body which emerged in 1817 from a series of decrees by Frederick William III of Prussia that united both Lutheran and Reformed denominations in Pru ...
(est. in 1817) but to also adopt the union confession for the congregation itself, which was not required but introduced by a handful of congregations in Berlin.
The upper gallery was rebuilt by the architect
Adolf Lohse
Adolf (Hermann) Lohse (30 August 1807 in Berlin – 15 January 1867) was a Prussian master builder and architect. He was a student of Karl Friedrich Schinkel and one of his projects was the Schloss Albrechtsberg in Dresden
Dresden (, ; Uppe ...
in 1864. Ernst Hermann von Dryander (1843–1922) was the church's pastor from 1882 to 1898, during which time a baptistery and a new vestry porch were added to plans by the architects Carl Vohl and
Friedrich Schulze
Friedrich Schulze, Friedrich Schulze-Colbitz or Friedrich Schulze-Kolbitz (8 or 18 March 1843 in Colbitz – 30 July 1912 in Steglitz near Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 ...
between 1885 and 1886.
Paul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg (; abbreviated ; 2 October 1847 – 2 August 1934) was a German field marshal and statesman who led the Imperial German Army during World War I and later became President of Germany fro ...
went to Sunday service at the church, whilst
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (; 4 February 1906 – 9 April 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the secular world have ...
preached at university services there during his time as lecturer and chaplain at the
TU Berlin
The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was ...
from 1932 to 1933.
The church above ground was
destroyed by bombing in November 1943. The cellar and ruins were then used as a
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
facility and bunker. In April 1945,
Hermann Fegelein
Hans Otto Georg Hermann Fegelein (30 October 1906 – 28 April 1945) was a high-ranking commander in the Waffen-SS of Nazi Germany. He was a member of Adolf Hitler's entourage and brother-in-law to Eva Braun through his marriage to her si ...
was interrogated by
Heinrich Müller Heinrich Müller may refer to:
* Heinrich Müller (cyclist) (born 1926), Swiss cyclist
* Heinrich Müller (footballer, born 1888) (1888–1957), Swiss football player and manager
* Heinrich Müller (footballer, born 1909) (1909–2000), Austrian ...
in the facility shortly before Fegelein was executed. The Nazi facility was demolished in 1947.
The parish continued holding services after the war until at least the 1970s in the rectory on
Wilhelmstraße
Wilhelmstrasse (german: Wilhelmstraße, see ß) is a major thoroughfare in the central Mitte (locality), Mitte and Kreuzberg districts of Berlin, Germany. Until 1945, it was recognised as the centre of the government, first of the Kingdom of Pru ...
115.
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 Dreifaltigkeitsfriedhof and are numbered:
* Dreifaltigkeitsfriedhof I, opened in 1739, located amidst a compound of cemeteries of seven congregations, therefore there is no direct access but either via ''Friedhof I der
Jerusalems- und
Neuen Kirche'', Zossener Straße opposite to #58, or via ''Friedhof III der Jerusalems- und Neuen Kirche'',
Mehringdamm
The Mehringdamm is a street in southern Kreuzberg, Berlin. In the north it starts at Mehringbrücke and ends - with its southernmost houses already belonging to Tempelhof locality - on Platz der Luftbrücke. It is the historical southbound Berlin-H ...
21 (near the
homonymous U-Bahn station), both Berlin-Kreuzberg
* Dreifaltigkeitsfriedhof II, opened in 1825, Bergmannstraße 39–41, Berlin-Kreuzberg
[Sylvia Müller and Hainer Weißpflug, ''Der Dreifaltigkeitsfriedhof II in Berlin-Kreuzberg. Ein Friedhofsführer'', Hans-Jürgen Mende (ed.), Berlin: Edition Luisenstadt, 2003. .]
* Dreifaltigkeitsfriedhof III, opened in 1900, Eisenacher Straße 61, Berlin-Mariendorf
References
Sources
* Rudolf Herz: ''Berliner Barock. Bauten und Baumeister aus der ersten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts''. Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft für Politik und Geschichte M. B. H., Berlin 1928
* W. Boeck, H. Richartz: ''Alte Berliner Kirchen''. Atlantis-Verlag, Berlin 1937, S. 82
* Günther Kühne, Elisabeth Stephani: ''Evangelische Kirchen in Berlin''. Christlicher Zeitschriftenverlag, Berlin 1978, , S. 377.
External links
Information and photoson Trinity Church
Information on Trinity Churchon BAM-Portal
{{Authority control
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...
Berlin Trinity
Berlin Trinity
Berlin Trinity
Berlin Trinity
Berlin Trinity
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...
1739 establishments in Prussia