Berlin Cathedral

Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church Oberpfarr- und Domkirche (de)
View from the west to the church with the simplified reconstruction of its domes (2006)
Religion
Affiliation	United Protestant, originally Roman Catholic, from 1539 on Lutheran, Calvinist since 1613, from 1817 on Evangelical Protestant
District	Sprengel Berlin (region), Kirchenkreis Berlin Stadtmitte (deanery)
Province	Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia
Year consecrated	1454 then as Roman Catholic St. Erasmus Chapel
Location
Location	Cölln, a historical neighbourhood of Berlin, Germany
Architecture
Architect(s)	Martin Böhme (1717), Johann Boumann the Elder (1747–1750), Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1817 and 1820–1822), Julius and Otto Raschdorff, father and son (1894–1905),
Style	Renaissance (until 1538), Brick Gothic (1538–1747), Baroque (1747-1817/ 1822), Neoclassical (1817–1893), Neo-Renaissance since 1905
Completed	1451 (first building), ca. 1345 (2nd bldg), 1750 (3rd bldg), 1905 (4th bldg), 1993 reinaugurated after removal of war destructions
Construction cost	11.5 million Marks (1905)
Specifications
Direction of façade	west
Length	114 meters, shorter since the demolition of the northern memorial hall in 1975
Width	74 meters
Dome height (outer)	115 meters (until destruction 1944)
Materials	originally brick, since 1905 Silesian sandstone
Website
English and German official website of the congregation

Berlin Cathedral (German: Berliner Dom) is the colloquial name for the Evangelical (i.e. Protestant) Oberpfarr- und Domkirche (English analogously: Supreme Parish and Collegiate Church, literally Supreme Parish and Cathedral Church) in Berlin, Germany. It is the parish church of the Evangelical congregation Gemeinde der Oberpfarr- und Domkirche zu Berlin, a member of the umbrella organisation Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia. Its present building is located on Museum Island in the Mitte borough.

The Berlin Cathedral has never been a cathedral in the actual sense of that term since it has never been the seat of a bishop. The bishop of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg (under this name 1945–2003) is based in St. Mary's Church, Berlin, and Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. St. Hedwig's Cathedral serves as seat of Berlin's Roman Catholic metropolitan bishop.

The Supreme Parish Church Residing in its new Building north of the Castle (1750–1893)

Miniature of the Supreme Parish Church in Berlin, as in 1750 J. Boumann the Elder built it.

On 6 September 1750 the new baroque Calvinist Supreme Parish Church was inaugurated, built by Johann Boumann the Elder in 1747–1750. The electoral tombs were translated to the new building. The new structure covered a space north of the castle, which is still covered by the present building.

In 1817 – under the auspices of King Frederick William III of Prussia – the community of the Supreme Parish Church, like most Prussian Calvinist and Lutheran congregations joined the common umbrella organisation named Evangelical Church in Prussia (under this name since 1821), with each congregation maintaining its former denomination or adopting the new united denomination. The community of the Supreme Parish Church adopted the new denomination of the Prussian Union. Today's presbytery of the congregation bears the unusual name in German: Domkirchenkollegium, literally in Cathedral College, thus recalling the history of the church as collegiate church.

In celebration of the Union Karl Friedrich Schinkel remodelled the interior in the same year and in 1820–1822 the exterior of Boumann's church in the neoclassicist style. The Supreme Parish and Cathedral Church faced at its southern façade the Berlin Castle, the palace of the Hohenzollern (destroyed in World War II), and the Lustgarten park at its western front, which is still there.

The Main Organ in the Supreme Parish and Cathedral Church

The pipe organ, built by Wilhelm Sauer, was fully restored during reconstruction. It has 113 stops, including three ranks of 32' pipes on the pedal division, played by a 4-manual console:

I Hauptwerk C–a3 Prinzipal 16′ Majorbaß 16′ Prinzipal 8′′ Doppelflöte 8 Prinzipal amabile 8′ Flute harmonique 8′ Viola di Gamba 8′ Bordun 8′ Gemshorn 8′ Quintatön 8′ Harmonika 8′ Gedacktquinte 51/3′ Oktave 4′ Flute octaviante 4′ Fugara 4′ Rohrflöte 4′ Oktave 2′ Rauschquinte II Grosscymbel III Scharff III–V Kornett III–IV Bombarde 16′ Trompete 8′ Clairon 4′

II Brustwerk C–a3 Prinzipal 16′ Quintatön 16′ Prinzipal 8′ Doppelflöte 8′ Geigenprinzipal 8′ Spitzflöte 8′ Salicional 8′ Soloflöte 8′ Dulciana 8′ Rohrflöte 8′ Oktave 4′ Spitzflöte 4′′ Salicional 4 Flauto Dolce 4′ Quinte 22/3′ Piccolo 2′ Mixtur IV Cymbel III Kornett III Tuba 8′ Klarinette 8′

III Schwellwerk C–a3 Salicional 16′ Bordun 16′ Prinzipal 8′ Hohlflöte 8′ Gemshorn 8′ Schalmei 8′ Konzertflöte 8′ Dolce 8′ Gedeckt 8′ Unda maris 8′ Oktave 4′ Gemshorn 4′ Quintatön 4′ Traversflöte 4′ Nasard 22/3′ Waldflöte 2′ Terz 21/5′ Mixtur III Trompete 8′ Cor anglais 8′ Glockenspiel Rückpositiv Flötenprinzipal 8′ Flöte 8′ Gedackt 8′ Dulciana 8′ Zartflöte 4′

IV Schwellwerk C–a3 Lieblich Gedackt 16′ Prinzipal 8′ Traversflöte 8′ Spitzflöte 8′ Lieblich Gedackt 8′ Quintatön 8′ Aeoline 8′ Voix céleste 8′ Prestant 4′ Fernflöte 4′ Violine 4′ Gemshornquinte 22/3′ Flautino 2′ Harmonia aetheria III Trompete 8′ Oboe 8′ Vox Humana 8′ Tremolo zu Vox humana

Pedal C–f1 Prinzipal 32′ Untersatz 32′ Prinzipal 16′ Offenbaß 16′ Violon 16′ Subbaß 16′ Gemshorn 16′ Liebliche Gedackt 16′ Quintbaß 102/3′ Prinzipal 8′ Flötenbaß 8′ Violoncello 8′ Gedackt 8′ Dulciana 8′ Quinte 51/3′ Oktave 4′ Terz 31/5′ Quinte 22/3′ Septime 22/7′ Oktave 2′ Mixtur III Kontraposaune 32′ Posaune 16′ Fagott 16′ Trompete 8′ Clairon 4′

• II/I, III/I, IV/I, Super I, III/II, IV/II, Super II, IV/III, I/P, II/P, III/P, IV/P
• 3 Freie Kombinationen, Mezzoforte, Forte, Tutti, Rohrwerke, Jalousieschweller III. Manual, Jalousieschweller IV. Manual, Jalousieschweller Vox humana, Handregister ab, Rückpositiv ab.

References

• Wolfgang Gottschalk, Altberliner Kirchen in historischen Ansichten, Würzburg: Weidlich, 1985. ISBN 3-8035-1262-X.
• Arno Hach, Alt-Berlin im Spiegel seiner Kirchen: Rückblicke in die versunkene Altstadt (¹1933), Ammerbuch: Beggerow, ²2002. ISBN 3-936103-00-3.
• Günther Kühne and Elisabeth Stephani, Evangelische Kirchen in Berlin (¹1978), Berlin: CZV-Verlag, ²1986. ISBN 3-7674-0158-4.
• Ingo Materna and Wolfgang Ribbe, Geschichte in Daten – Brandenburg, Munich and Berlin: Koehler & Amelang, 1995. ISBN 3-7338-0188-1.
• Michael Pohl, Die Grosse Sauer-Orgel im Berliner Dom [CD]. Ursina Motette. ISSN 4-008950-117812.

External links

• Berlin Cathedral (history, description, visitor information).
• Berlin Cathedral – Panorama
• Berlin Cathedral – Virtual tour
• Berlin Cathedral, its destruction and restoration
• Berlin webcam including view of Berlin Cathedral and the Palace of the Republic
• Three-dimensional view of Berlin Cathedral (without plugin English, German, Spanish)