- Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche Berlin, Tauentzienstraße, 10789 Berlin, Allemagne
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The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin-Charlottenburg was damaged in air raids in November 1943 and completely destroyed in April 1945. The ruined tower was preserved as an anti-war memorial. The modern church was consecrated on 17 December 1961.
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church or Gedächtniskirche, located on the Breitscheidplatz at the start of the shopping district of the Tauentzienstraße and Ku’damm, was consecrated in 1895. It was a present to the German people from the German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II in memory of his grandfather Kaiser Wilhelm I (1861-1888).
The church was damaged in air raids on 23 November 1943 and completely destroyed in April 1945. After the Second World War, the ruined tower was preserved as an anti-war memorial, dedicated to peace and reconciliation.
The modern church, designed by the architect Egon Eiermann with the ruined tower as the centerpiece, was consecrated on 17 December 1961 by Bishop Otto Dibelius. The walls of the church and the new tower contain altogether 21.334 panes of stained blue glass designed by the French artist Gabriel Loire of Chartres. The ruined tower, the Hall of Remembrance with the cross of nails from Coventry and the icon cross from the Russian Orthodox Church and a suspended brass figure of a resurrected Christ, a martyr’s memorial commemorating Protestant martyrs of the Nazi regime in the new church keep alive the theme of reconciliation.
Six bells cast in bronze hang in the new tower. The bells have a total weight of 17.000 kg. The inscription on the great bell is: “Your cities are burned with fire.” (Isaiah 1,7) and “But my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished” (Isaiah, 51,6).