Chapel of Reconciliation

It stands on the site of the old Church of Reconciliation (de) (German: Versöhnungskirche), on Bernauer Strasse in the Mitte district.

The church was completed in 1894 as an imposing brick-built building by the architect Gotthilf Ludwig Möckel, in the Gothic revival style.

In the summer of 1990 the removal of the border fortifications began, leaving the land where the Church of Reconciliation had once stood overgrown with grass and shrubs.

While the general trend was to get rid of the physical evidence of Berlin’s division, the Reconciliation Parish considered the most suitable use for the site, in a way that commemorated its past whilst looking towards the future.

The result was to build a chapel on the site; a modern construction that considered ecological and historical concerns as well as the needs of its parishioners.