Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church Berlin

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at Breitscheidplatz is i of Berlin's virtually famous landmarks. The church building was originally built betwixt 1891 together with 1895 past times the end High German Emperor together with King of Prussia , Kaiser Wilhelm II , equally a score of laurels for his grandpa , Kaiser Wilhelm I. It was i of the virtually beautiful churches inward the together with then say of Brandenburg , with unusually ornate interiors , stained drinking glass windows together with a large mosaic depicting the history of Prussia upwards until Emperor William himself.

Fifty years after , during the Second World War , allied bombing on Berlin leveled the church building to the ground. Only the partially destroyed spire stood , similar a “hollow tooth” equally the locals called it. The damaged bell tower was supposed to hold out demolished to brand agency for a novel structure , merely Berliners protested inward favor of integrating the ruins into the novel church. The preserved ruin directly remains equally a famous together with poignant reminder of the horrors of nation of war , equally good equally a symbol of Berliners’ decision to rebuild their metropolis during the catamenia after the war.

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Photo credit: Thomas Favre-Bulle/Flickr

The novel octagonal church building was built betwixt 1957 together with 1963 , amongst the existing tower. The church building consists of honeycomb-like concrete elements , fitted with thousands of stained drinking glass panels.

The ruined tower of the quondam church building is directly domicile to a memorial hall containing several objects from the master church building such equally the damaged statue of Christ which originally stood on the altar of the quondam church. Nails recovered from the roof timbers of Coventry Cathedral , that was also damaged inward an air raid , was used to exercise a Cross of Nails. The hall also contains photos from earlier together with after the bombing.

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