[MOC] Gedächtniskirche, Berlin

[jimmynick]

The first thing I remember about Berlin, apart from the confusion of Tegel, is a ruin towering over the street: the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.

The church was originally opened in 1906. It was bombed during the war, in 1943, and was something of a loose end for a decade. The architect and artist Egon Eiermann rebuilt the church from 1959 to 1963. He wanted to demolish the ruins of the bombed church, but he caved to public resistance and left the original tower standing. The tower has been preserved in its bombed state and Eiermann built a cluster of buildings around it, including a new chapel and a new bell tower. The façades of these new buildings consist of concrete lattices inset with stained glass panels. It's really something to see during the day but it is also lit up at night. In the preserved spire is a cross of nails from Coventry.

The church, a beautiful and ugly trace of the war, is surrounded by consumer culture and the bustle of the city. It is flanked to the north by Budapester Straße and the Bikini Berlin mall. To the east is the Europa Center, famous for its giant spinning Mercedes-Benz logo that lights up in the night. An H&M and a Forever 21 sit to the south, just across Ku'damm and Tauentzienstraße, two of the famous shopping avenues of former West Berlin. To the west is the Waldorf Astoria hotel. To the north west, along Budapester Straße, is the Bahnhof Zoo, which was the only long-distance railway station in West Berlin.

I know the church has five buildings, not three. But I decided after a month of fiddling with pieces that they would be intractable to build with any degree of accuracy at this scale, particularly the one next to the belfry. Also, having walked past the church around a hundred times, I had entirely forgotten about the small buildings so I don't think it is essential to include them.

See a couple more pictures on flickr. All renders were done using the wonderful Bluerender software. Thanks for looking!

[TheLegoDr]

Good job! I had no idea what this was, until I googled it and compared. It is a good rendition, especially at that scale. It might be fun to do a before/after the war look.

You did the ruin justice. It looks like it would have been a neat building in its prime.

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

Wow, thanks for teaching me some history! Unfortunately I missed this when I visited Berlin. Guess I'll have to wait till next time!

[derEselausErgste]

Just found this topic. A wonderful micro-scale MOC, and as a Berliner (people from Berlin, in greater parts of Germany the name for a typical doughnut also) i know what i am talking about.

Just for additional info: exactly 3 month after You posted this topic, Breitscheidplatz became known for a terrorist attack, when an islamic fundamentalist attacked the local christmas market with a stolen truck, killing 12 people.

Breitscheidplatz was the centre point of the „old“ West Berlin before the opening of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Today he lost lots of his relevance, as the centre of the re-united city moved back to „Unter den Linden“ and the surrounding areas in „Mitte“. 

For travellers visiting Berlin and interested in Berlin History (and gossip of course), i can offer guided tours, amusing my „Customers“ (no, it’s for free) thanks to my very German English :-)...just ask.

Rudolf Breitscheid, eponym of the square itself, has been a socialist politician who was killed by the Nazis in 1944.

P.S. Just about the doughnut: for whatever reasons, the „Berliner“ is called „pancake“ in Berlin and parts of Brandenburg, although it is not flat at all, and it is not prepared in a pan (at least not nowadays). You may find this confusing, but please remember the „Wiener“ (Vienna sausage) is called „Wiener“ in Frankfurt but „Frankfurter“ in Wien / Vienna. To be exact, both kinds of sausage differ in details, but thats of interest only if you are a butcher.

 

 

Edited January 27, 2019 by derEselausErgste

[Johnny1360]

Very cool, one of the few things I remember from living in Berlin as a small child, way back in 1967, The Bombed Out Church. That and the Berlin zoo, strange how certain things stick with you all your life, I was only 5 years old.