Church of St. Mary

The protestant church of St. Mary was founded during the first medieval urban expansion of Berlin in 1250 as a parish church for the new town. Like the newly renovated St. Nicholas church, the ruins of the Franciscan monastery church and the Chapel of the Holy Spirit Hospital, it is one of the few remaining buildings from Berlin’s early history. It is the only one of these buildings that is still being used as a church.

This Gothic style church with a nave and two aisles underwent a major transformation during the Baroque era, when a pulpit was installed by Andreas Schlüter, giving the church the character of a sermon hall. The symbolism of the Gothic space gave way to functional considerations. Between 1893 and 1894, however, Hermann Blankenstein brought back certain Gothic elements to church, which contribute significantly to the way the church appears today - for example, its southern facade, the organ loft and the floor.

The Evangelical Church of St. Mary has a long and great tradition. Since the Middle Ages, the provost of Berlin has served as a minister at St. Nicholas Church while also being the senior minister at the Church of St. Mary. After the secularization of St. Nicholas Church in 1938, the Church of St. Mary became his official residence. Keeping in line with this tradition, after the war the Church of St. Mary became the church where the ministry of the bishop of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg is based and this has remained so up to this day.