Berlin - Marienkirche

The Protestant Marienkirche is the oldest municipal parish church still in sacred use in Berlin. According to architectural experts, it was built around 1270.

The foundations of St. Mary's Church are made of fieldstone, over which a hall church made of red bricks in the Brandenburg Brick Gothic style was built. Following fire damage, the parish rebuilt the tower in the Baroque style between 1663 and 1666. The current spire(46m) is the result of a remodeling in 1789 in the Neo-Gothic style.

After the repair of the war damage from WW II, the GDR had the building restored once again in 1969/1970 as part of the completed redesign of Alexanderplatz and its surroundings.

Today the church is in a completely different urban context. While it dominated the densely built-up urban space at the former Neuer Markt until 1945, it now stands as a solitary building in a spacious open space surrounded by multi-story new buildings. It remains the only visible reminder in this part of the city that Berlin's historic city center was located here.