PROJECT DETAILS

Hans Schädel / Friedrich Ebert: Mary Queen of Martyrs Church (Gedenkkirche Maria Regina Martyrum), 1960C–1963

  • Berlin, Germany, Show on map
  • #REL #Western Europe
  • Intersecting fair-faced concrete slabs form a 25-metre high bell tower which also serves as an entrance and allows one to enter the monumental church forecourt.

    Gigantic exposed aggregate concrete slabs protectively enclose the area on which is also an open-air altar where up to 10,000 people could once be gathered.

    A massive concrete box floats at a height of 4 metres, almost weightlessly lying on only three transverse walls, two of which form the side walls of the under-church and the third is a part of the wall of the church area. Above the entrance there is a 5 meter high, golden shining sculpture of the artist Fritz Koenig, the "Apokalyptische Frau".  A concrete staircase leads from the glazed substructure into the upper hall of the church, windowless washed concrete walls welcome the visitor, filigree formwork patterns run through the concrete and form a rectangular pattern.

    Concrete struts run across the wooden ceiling, behind which two hidden window bands bathe the church hall in indirect light, two more are located behind the monumental altarpiece ("Das himmlische Jerusalem" by Georg Meistermann). On the opposite side, near the staircase, there is a concrete gallery on narrow columns to which the organ is attached.

  • In 1994 an elevator was added to the ensemble at the back.

    Heritage protected.