“we have returned!” Christophe Landre shouted. “We’re back in French Friedrichstadtkirche“After a good two-year construction period, the French Church in Berlin, once established as a Huguenot parish, celebrated the reopening of the French Friedrichstadtkirche on the Gendarmenmarkt in time at the start of the new church year. First Arrival.

And the “secretary” of the community’s “consistoire” was apparently pleased with the 100 or so visitors who attended the opening service and listened to organ music by church music director Kilian Neuhaus. As a precaution, the community canceled the reception with champagne and canapés as a precaution.

In the future, the church should have “a clear space for clear words and clear sound”, Bishop Christian Stablin said in his sermon. In fact, the Reformed House of God, the oldest previous building of which dates back to 1705, is one of Berlin’s church centers. On the one hand it is because of the three churches that celebrate their services on the Sunday after the Sunday.

On the other hand, this is also due to the fact that in Germany the authorized representatives of the Evangelical Church are in the seat of the federal government, whose offices are directly opposite the church, and the Evangelical Academy in Berlin conducts its events. When German Protestants have to say something to official Berlin, they usually do so in the French Friedrichstadtkirche.

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But all users have complained about in recent years are some problems with the church, which was rebuilt in 1983 after being completely destroyed in 1944. Poor access toilets were as much a part of it as minor access for wheelchair users. Thanks to renovation work that has been planned since 2010 and was now completed for a good three million euros, there is now an elevator that connects the church hall with the basement rooms and access to the Gendarmenmarkt.

From the lower church of the French Friedrichstadtkirche there is a new entrance to the neighboring French cathedral, where the Huguenot Museum is located. In the words of its chairman of the board of trustees, Joachim Muhs, the French Friedrichstadtkirche should continue to present “proposals for a public discourse” to which “the Church will make a dedicated contribution”.