Sophienkirche (Berlin)

The Sophienkirche is a Protestant church in the Spandauer Vorstadt part of the Berlin-Mitte region of Berlin, eastern Germany. One of its associated cemeteries is the Friedhof II der Sophiengemeinde Berlin.

Sophienkirche in Berlin

History

Designed by Philipp Gerlach, its foundation stone was laid by Frederick I of Prussia. After the death of her husband Frederick's third wife Sophie Luise von Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1685-1735), did not (as originally intended) have the church named after her at the consecration ceremony presided over by Frederick's successor Frederick William I on 25 February 1713. On 18 June 1713 the church was dedicated as the Spandauische Kirche. It was first named after Sophie Luise under his successor Frederick II, and has been called the Sophienkirche ever since.

A baroque tower was added in 1732-34 by Johann Friedrich Grael.

In 1891/92 the church was rebuilt to designs by Friedrich Schulze by the practice Kyllmann & Heyden, overseen by Kurt Berndt. The roof was raised and an altar niche added at the east end, and the surviving interior decoration is almost entirely from this restoration.

There is a memorial to the poet Karl Wilhelm Ramler on the outside wall of the church's sacristy and one on the exterior north wall of the church to the poet Anna Luise Karsch.

Prominent graves in the churchyard include those of Carl Friedrich Zelter, founder of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, and graves from the last days of the Second World War in the adjacent Sophienstraß.

Bibliography
  • (in German) Jürgen Boeckh: Alt-Berliner Stadtkirchen. Von der Dorotheestädtischen Kirche bis zur St.-Hedwigs-Kathedrale; (Berliner Reminiszenzen 58); Bd. 2; Haude & Spener: Berlin 1986; ISBN 3-7759-0289-9; S. 84–94.
  • (in German) Institut für Denkmalpflege (Hg.): Die Bau- und Kunstdenkmale in der DDR. Hauptstadt Berlin I; Henschelverlag: Berlin 2. Aufl. 1984; S. 294–297.
  • (in German) Günther Kühne/Elisabeth Stephani: Evangelische Kirchen in Berlin; CZV-Verlag: Berlin 2. Aufl. 1986; ISBN 3-7674-0158-4; S. 382f.
  • (in German) Thomas Raschke: Die Sophienkirche in Berlin; (Der historische Ort 160); Kai Homilius Verlag: Berlin 1997; ISBN 3-89706-159-7.

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