Wreckovation of Berlin Cathedral Completed

Just over ten years ago, I wrote an article about the proposed re-wreckovation of the cathedral of St Hedwig in Berlin, Germany. I termed it a “re-wreckovation” because the original building

The interior in 1886

The exterior after post-war restorations

was severely damaged during the Second World War; the distinctively shaped dome was completely destroyed, and the interior gutted, by a fire-bomb. It was then rebuilt with this strange arrangement, opening up a large hole in the floor to expose the bulk of the crypt. The large pillar that unites the altars of the upper and lower churches probably seemed like a good idea at the time.

image from wikipedia

 

This design, which clashes in a particularly unpleasant way with the building’s neo-Classical exterior, was completed in 1963.

But for some ... mysterious reason... the archdiocese of Berlin grew weary of its ugly cathedral, and decided to replace it with one that is not so much ugly (although there is ugliness in it too) as completely sterile. It is the kind of architecture that is often described as lifeless, but (stealing a line from one of the great humorists of our age, the late P.J. O’Rourke,)  “a design (cannot) be said to lack life when it exhibits such animated hatred of beauty.” This past Sunday, a Mass was celebrated for the official reopening by the archbishop, in the midst of what now looks not like a church, but a concert hall with a very inconveniently placed white cereal bowl in the middle of the floor. And I say “concert hall” advisedly, because the Mass was celebrated with a full orchestra and a large choir, and much of the music is actually pretty nice.  

Of course, the illusion of poverty is important enough to warrant any expense, and this vast room full of nothing is reported to have come at the price tag of something like 40 million euros. Didn’t someone once say something about “whited sepulchers”?