The Berlin Cathedral

3 years ago

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Culture-Church Culture-Temple

After lunch, take your time to visit the Berlin Cathedral and enjoy one of the city's best views. The cathedral is located on the Museum island near the Reichstag building and stands around the River Spree. Historians consider this place Kaiser Wilhelm II's Berlin reply of the leading and most representative church of Protestantism to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Crowned by a greenish copper dome, the Berliner Dom is the most representative religious building in Berlin. The Berlin Cathedral building was built between 1894 and 1905 on a former small Baroque cathedral from 1747, right before the Imperial Palace. The proximity to the palace made the cathedral the main court church of the Hohenzollern dynasty and where family members were buried. The basements of the Berlin Cathedral house a unique and very special treasure, the Hohenzollern Crypt, which holds the sarcophagi of members of the Hohenzollern dynasty. In the crypt, one can see more than 90 tombs of members of the imperial family who died from the late 16th to the early 20th century. With its magnificent decoration in the neo-Renaissance and neo-Baroque styles, more than 500 years of Brandenburg and Prussian burial culture are documented through the sumptuous sarcophagi and coffins. Once inside the cathedral, visitors will enjoy the altar enclosure, made of white marble and yellow onyx, and the striking, imposing pneumatic transmission organ. The access used by the imperial couple when they went to the cathedral is also attractive and engaging since it had its own staircase with all kinds of luxuries, through which they reached the Imperial Box. The tourist journey to the dome is challenging because the path visitors have to go through resembles an abandoned attic. However, after climbing the 270 steps that lead to the top of the dome of the Berliner Dom, one can enjoy beautiful views of Downtown Berlin, which definitely makes the climb really worth it. Photo Credit: corinnalichtenberg1 on Pixabay.com