Friedrichswerder Church

The Friedrichswerder Church is a museum whose building was originally designed as a religious temple by the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel in the center of Berlin (Germany), near the Berlin Academy of Architecture and the Royal Palace. The building is located on Werderscher Markt street.

The church was severely damaged during World War II and only began its comprehensive renovation between 1979 and 1986 when preparations were underway to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Schinkel's birth. After undergoing another renovation between 1997 and 2000, the building houses a permanent display of sculptures from the early 19th century.

History

The building was made between 1824-1830 in brick in the Gothic style according to plans by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, who was head of the Prussian state works department and architect to the royal family, which allowed him to design most of the important buildings of the time in Berlin.

The exterior is clearly neo-Gothic. In this century, while neoclassical prevailed in France, the Teutonic countries sought an application of their true roots, and like the English, they saw them reflected in the Gothic style. The author gives two plan solutions for the interior of the building: one neoclassical or neo-Roman, in line with other countries, and another neo-Gothic, which is finally the one that is carried out. These two options were affordable with the structure of the rest of the building, since the building has an interior iron structure. The buttressed vaults that can be seen inside are nothing more than false ceilings, they have no bearing function.

Since 1945

Interior.

During the Battle of Berlin (1945) in the framework of World War II, the building was seriously damaged by multiple bombs. The artillery bombardment that caused the worst damage was on April 29, 1945, especially on the tower's façade and inside. However, the original stained glass windows managed to be preserved by being dismantled and stored in the Berlin Cathedral. where they were rediscovered in 1982.

The building was restored and conditioned between 1979-1986 and 1997-2000. However, in 2012 access to the public was closed due to structural failures that took several years to be repaired and only allowed the reopening of the church in 2020.

The museum

The building and its sculpture collection as a Schinkel museum form an annex to the Old National Gallery Berlin of Berlin's public museums.

Works on display include works by German sculptor Christian Daniel Rauch.