In Berlin there is currently no church in front of which visitors are queued up, as is now happening in front of the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral despite the time ticket allocation. But there are also churches in Berlin that Berliners like to visit: the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, the cathedral, the St. Mary’s Church, and St. Hedwig’s Cathedral. And again and again you can hear the warning hissing in them: “Pssst – there’s a church here”. Or: “Can’t they keep their brats under control?” The Christmas market is raging outside – there should be peace and quiet here, away from the world.
Many modern church buildings demand this compulsion to meditate aesthetically. The super-sparse, white new St. Hedwig’s Cathedral also wants to throw its users back entirely to themselves and God – or divinity. Just as Cistercian churches of the Middle Ages supposedly did. But this naked, clear, barren image of the church is a modern imagination, created by purist architects and monument conservators as well as a theology among Protestants and Catholics that radically individualizes faith. That’s why they systematically museumized the once invigorating colorful altar paintings, sculptures, murals, carpets and shimmering altarpieces.
Sure, there are great counter-examples, such as the Berlin (Catholic) church of Maria Regina Martyrum: how the mural by Georg Meistermann resonates with the Burgundian Madonna from the 14th century! Or the room of the (Protestant) Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, bathed in rich, blue light, in which the huge golden figure of Jesus welcomes people with his arms spread wide.
But even these rooms leave out a level that can still be experienced in the tourist or pilgrim hotspots: the church as a space for social gatherings, the diversity of life, in which people danced, traded, talked, debated, played, once upon a time was even fornicated. The pictures in the picture gallery show this vibrant life in the churches.
The idea of churches as pure meditation spaces dates back to the 19th century, influenced by the Victorian bourgeoisie, who sought peace from the onset of modern hectic, the constant struggle for social status, the pressure to consume, which undermined trust in other people and in the caring power of society and politics, repressed by a superior divinity. When many people’s first and last look is at their cell phone display, they probably need such quiet spaces. But we shouldn’t force it with a sharp “psst.” A friendly look is usually enough. Or a conversation. This can happen in tourist churches while waiting for a ticket.