Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is an evangelical temple built in 1895.
In honour of Wilhelm I, the first German Kaiser, his grandson Wilhelm II planned a magnificent church, which was built by Franz Schwechten between 1891 and 1895 in the Neo-Romantic style. With five spires, the bombastic design reflected the tastes of the time and that of the Kaiser.
The church bells were the second biggest in Germany after Cologne, and when the church was inaugurated, the five bells rang so loudly that the wolves in the zoo started howling. During the Second World War, the chimes stopped and the five bells were melted down for munitions.
The temple was severely damaged during World War II. The current appearance of the church is a combination of a nineteenth-century ruin with a modern nave on an octagonal plan, a hexagonal bell tower and a four-sided nave and porch, whose walls are made of 30 thousand. glass elements.
The Memorial Church was the work of architect Franz Schwechten, who built a monumental temple with five towers – one of them reached 113 meters and was then the tallest building in Berlin. The church enjoyed great recognition – under its influence the neo-Romanesque style spread throughout Germany.
The modern part of the church was built in 1961 according to the design of Egon Eiermann, one of the most important representatives of German modernism. His concept was to demolish the previous temple. After a stormy social debate, a decision was made to preserve the ruin.
