Maria Regina Martyrum
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Maria Regina Martyrum | ||
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Year consecrated 5 May 1963 | | |
Location | ||
Location | Charlottenburg-Nord, a locality of Berlin | |
Geographic coordinates | 52°32′25″N 13°17′55″E / 52.540317°N 13.2985°E | |
Architecture | ||
Architect(s) | Friedrich Ebert, Hermann Jünemann and Hans Schädel | |
Completed | 1963 | |
Materials | concrete | |
Website | ||
gedenkkirche-berlin |
Maria Regina Martyrum (German: Gedenkkirche Maria Regina Martyrum (actually Gedächtniskirche Maria Regina Martyrum der deutschen Katholiken zu Ehren der Blutzeugen für Glaubens- und Gewissensfreiheit in den Jahren 1933–1945) literally in English Commemorative church Mary Queen of Martyrs of the German catholics in honor of the martyrs for freedom of faith and conscience in the years 1933-1945) is a Roman Catholic church of the
The church
The
The crypt, originally a single room, has been divided by a gold-coated wall of concrete. The front part is dedicated solely to the memory of the martyrs of that time, symbolised by three inscriptions. At the right grave the ashes of Erich Klausener are reposing, the first martyr of Berlin's Catholic diocese in the Nazi period. The left inscription is dedicated to Blessed Provost Bernhard Lichtenberg. His relics are in Maria Regina Martyrum throughout the time of the renovation of St. Hedwig's Cathedral. The middle, only symbolic, grave commemorates all those martyrs, whom the Nazis denied to have a grave. Discalced Carmelite nuns who live in the convent Regina Martyrum next to the church since 1984 pray the Liturgy of the Hours in the rear crypt.
Since March 2008 the commemorative church, which does not belong to a parish, is headed by a rector of the Jesuits.
Furnishings
Upper church: A tripartite sculpture Apocalyptic Woman by Fritz Koenig is hanging on the long façade of the upper church. Inside on the altar wall there is a monumental fresco by Georg Meistermann. A seated wooden Madonna from southern France, created around 1320, is shown at the altar. In the confession chapel there is a sculpture of a Man of Sorrows from southern Germany, around second half of the 15th century.[3] The Bonn-based organ constructor Johannes Klais created the organ on 5 May 1963.
Crypt: A memorial, graves of martyrs and a bronze Pietà of Fritz Koenig, which are dominating the room, are located in the middle of the front room of the crypt.[3]
Ceremonial Court: Stations of the Cross from bronze and an open air altar by Otto Herbert Hajek, composed of two pillars from concrete, are flanking the entrance gate and the campanile. A bronze relief of Johannes Dumanski depicting the Holy Family at its Flight into Egypt decks the narrow side of the courtyard.[3]
The carmel
Theo Wieland and Klaus Worring built next to the church a Discalced Carmelite convent, which was opened in 1984. It offers room for 24 nuns. The erection of the Carmelite convent was facilitated by the episcopal ordinariate.
Ecumenical activities
There is a close Ecumenical cooperation with the nearby
References
- Handbuch der Deutschen Kunstdenkmäler / Georg Dehio: 22 vols., new ed. by Dehio-Vereinigung, Berlin and Munich: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2000, vol. 8: Berlin, pp. 151seq. ISBN 3-422-03071-9.
- Maria-Theresia Smith, Catholic Commemorative Church Maria Regina Martyrum, Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner, 11989, (Kleine Kunstführer; 1703e), 32 pp.
Notes
- ^ Schädel was then the architect in charge of the reconstruction and maintenance of the cathedral of Würzburg, which had been destroyed in the Second World War.
- ISBN 3-422-03071-9.
- ^ ISBN 3-422-03071-9.