Heilandskirche Sacrow
Like a ship in the harbour
The romantic Heilandskirche is directly on a lakeside cove and offers a magical view.
It stands quietly and dreamily on the shore: the Heilandskirche Sacrow. Built in Italian style with a free-standing campanile and located directly on Jungfernsee, the small church has a Mediterranean charm that will enchant you too.
The architecture of the Heilandskirche
Frederick William IV himself provided the first sketches and designs for a small church with a campanile, a free-standing bell tower - in the Italian style, as is customary in Italy, but not in Prussia. His favourite architect Ludwig Persius supervised the planning of the church from 1844. It is located near Sacrow Castle in the park designed by Peter Joseph Lenné. The park is part of the Potsdam Palace Landscape UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The church is modelled on an anchored ship. It is modelled on early Christian sacred buildings. The church has a flat ceiling and gives the impression of a three-aisled basilica. The building is made of yellow brick, decorated with blue tiles. A portico on the water side lines the church and offers wonderful views across the lake. Inside, a magnificent Byzantine-style fresco is an eye-catcher. Like the main building, the campanile is made of yellow brick. A plaque commemorates the fact that the first German aerial system for wireless telegraphy was located here in 1897.
The Heilandskirche Sacrow during the Wall era
For a long time, the church lay in an in-between realm, as the Wall ran directly across the site during the years of German division. The church was left to decay in no man's land. the congregation celebrated its last Christmas service in 1961. Afterwards, the GDR border troops ravaged the church and sealed it off to prevent escape attempts across the grounds. The border guards even reinforced the campanile with concrete slabs and used it as a watchtower. The West Berliners had to accept and endure the increasing decay with a heavy heart. The then Governing Mayor of West Berlin, Richard von Weizsäcker, negotiated with the GDR authorities until they at least allowed the facades to be renovated in 1984/85.
The Heilandskirche today
On Christmas Eve 1989, immediately after the fall of the Wall, the congregation celebrates its first service in the church, which is still in ruins. extensive restoration work began in 1993. Today, church services, concerts and weddings are once again held in this romantic gem, and the bride can take a boat to her wedding here.
