Berlin - Berliner Dom

Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany. The city is one of Germany's 16 federal states.

The first records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. The central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in 1237 and Berlin, across the river Spree in 1244. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the staple right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod.

In 1415, Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg. His successors established Berlin-Cölln as capital of the margraviate, and subsequent members of the Hohenzollern family ruled in Berlin until 1918, first as electors of Brandenburg, then as kings of Prussia, and eventually as German emperors.

The Thirty Years' War between 1618 and 1648 devastated Berlin. The city lost half of its population. Frederick William, known as the "Grosse Kurfürst" initiated a policy of promoting immigration and religious tolerance from 1640 on. In 1685, Frederick William offered asylum to the Huguenots. By 1700, approximately 30 percent of Berlin's residents were French Huguenots. Other immigrants came from Bohemia and Poland.

The Industrial Revolution transformed Berlin during the 19th century; the city's economy and population expanded dramatically, and it became the main railway hub and economic centre of Germany. Additional suburbs soon developed and increased the area and population of Berlin. In 1871, Berlin became capital of the newly founded German Empire.

In 1933 the Nazi Party came to power. After the "Kristallnacht" progrom in 1938, thousands of the city's Jews were imprisoned in the nearby Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Starting in 1943, many were shipped to death camps, such as Auschwitz.

During World War II, large parts of Berlin were destroyed by Allied air raids and the 1945 Battle of Berlin. Around 125,000 civilians were killed. After the end of WWII , by Berlin received large numbers of refugees from the Eastern provinces. The victorious powers divided the city into four sectors, analogous to the occupation zones into which Germany was divided. The sectors of the Western Allies formed West Berlin, while the Soviet sector formed East Berlin.

The Berlin Wall was a barrier that divided the city from 1961 to 1989, when it fell. In October 1990, the German reunification process was formally finished.

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A collegiate church existed here up to 1536, when it got promoted to a "court chapel" and endowed with estates and privileges by Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg. When Joachim II Hector converted from Catholicism to Lutheranism in 1539 the collegiate church thus became Lutheran too. When Calvinistic Prince-Elector John Sigismund followed in 1608, the college got dissolved.

While Berlin's other churches, subject to Lutheran city-council jurisdiction, remained Lutheran, the Supreme Parish Church, the Hohenzollern's house church, became Berlin's first, and until 1695, the only Calvinist church. Since the church had become dilapidated Frederick II had between 1747 and 1750 a baroque building erected and demolished the old cathedral after the transfer of electoral coffins.

This Baroque church was demolished in 1893 and the present Supreme Parish and Cathedral Church in Neo-Renaissance style was built.

In 1940, the blast waves of Allied bombing blew the windows away. In May 1944 a bomb hit the lantern, that collapsed into the main floor. After WWII a temporary roof was built to enclose the building. In 1967 the reconstruction of the church was decided. This reconstruction finally simplified the building's original design. The northern wing of the cathedral, the "Denkmalskirche", that had survived the war completely intact, was demolished for ideological reasons by the communist government due to it being a hall of honour for the Hohenzollern dynasty.