Friedrichswerderschen Kirche

Description

At Werderscher Markt in the Berlin district of Mitte stands the Friedrichswerdersche Kirche, which today serves as an exhibition venue of the Nationalgalerie and displays 19th‑century sculptures.

The building’s history goes back to the former Friedrichswerder, an urban extension on the left arm of the Spree. After the shared-use church in the Reithaus, which had been used previously, became dilapidated, the Prussian crown prince Friedrich Wilhelm commissioned a new building. Between 1824 and 1831, following designs by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, a neo-Gothic, two-towered brick structure was erected and is counted among the earliest representative exposed‑brick buildings of the modern era.

Schinkel consistently employed brick and terracotta; the façade features twin towers, tracery and richly ornamented stone blocks. Inside, illusionistic paintings and ribbed vaulting create the impression of high medieval Gothic, complemented by wooden galleries and a polygonal chancel. Original fittings such as the altar, pulpit and stained‑glass windows have been preserved.

The sacred building suffered severe damage in the Second World War; major windows were restored and reinstalled. In the 1980s a conservation‑sensitive reconstruction took place, after which the building was opened to the public as the Schinkel Museum and a branch of the Nationalgalerie. Following further repair work in the years after reunification and a temporary closure due to structural damage caused by neighboring construction, the church was reopened in 2020.

Today the Friedrichswerdersche Kirche presents significant sculptures of the Berlin school of sculpture from the Nationalgalerie’s collection, including works and original plaster models by 19th‑century sculptors, as well as an exhibition on the life and work of Karl Friedrich Schinkel.