Churches on Monday

Marienkirche

The second oldest church in Berlin it was built in 1270 and unfortunately we weren't able to enter it due to restoration work that was going on just during this week! It was a great looking church from the outside and of course like everything else in Berlin it has been mostly rebuilt due to WWII.





Nicholaikirche
This is the oldest church in Berlin and was only 200 or so feet from the Spree and was said to be placed there because it was the narrowest and most passable place along the Spree. When the church was built Berlin had a sister city across the river and this served for both places. I found the inside of the rebuilt church to be quite bright with the flashy colors used on the roof and it was now a museum and didn't entice me. The outside was what i liked the most for some reason.







Friedrichswerdersche
This was a simple plain church on the outside and was simply huge with these simple windows on the outside of it, but once i was inside i noticed the colors of the stained glass all around and loved this Gothic style of the staircases and window arches. This is how i explain the German people... Simple on the outside and elaborate on the inside and never knowing what you will find on the inside.




Then we traveled back to Bebelplatz and saw the huge pantheon like dome of St. Hedwig's Cathedral which of course had been rebuilt again after the war and changed... I find that when they did this it doesn't have that great old majestic feel of a really old building. It takes away of the awe knowing that 99% of this building was rebuilt less than 50 years ago. But it was extremely nice on the inside and still an active church with a man still playing the organ for the followers.

And the last building of the day was... yet another rebuilt Concert Hall. This place was huge and just screamed royalty with the huge lions on the front steps overlooking the platz perched in between two nearly identical churches. This was now an orchestra hall but was originally intended for theater performances with seating for about 2000 people. It was furnished well but was all done with wall paper and fake marble on the inside everywhere... Again it takes away the awe factor with a building so great and majestic on the outside and the interior is fake. But thats just my opinion... it still was beautiful. I enjoyed the colors with green shades and marble seemed nice.