I’m in Berlin for a while and will be blogging about my travels in and around the city, and across Europe, for the rest of the year.
First up: the spectacular Berlin Cathedral.
It’s an easy stop if you’re exploring central Berlin. The cathedral is a short walk from Hackescher Markt station, right next to Lustgarten and Museum Island, and sits along the Spree River with terrific views in every direction.
Before getting to the cathedral, stop to take photos capturing the cathedral, the river, and Friedrichs Bridge. It’s one of those places where you can easily burn through half your camera battery before even stepping inside.
Admission is about €15, and you can buy tickets either online or at the cathedral. While wandering around looking for the entrance (tip: it’s the far-right door if you’re facing the cathedral), I ran into a woman who had accidentally purchased two tickets and gave me the extra one. Free admission always makes a place even more impressive — and yes, the ticket actually worked.
Inside the Cathedral
When I finally walked through the doors, I was honestly struck breathless. There is so much beauty packed into this church that it’s hard to know where to look first.
Straight ahead is the chancel and the marble altar, with stained glass windows rising above it and an iron candelabra flanking either side. The square windows depict scenes from the life of Jesus — the birth, crucifixion, and death — corresponding to Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter. The circular windows show religious symbols, including an angel, a chalice, and a victory banner.
Turn slightly left, and you’ll see the ornate oak pulpit, richly carved and elevated above the congregation.
Continue further left, and you’ll find the massive organ, which is considered the world’s largest surviving original instrument. According to the cathedral brochure, it contains 7,269 pipes, 113 stops, and four manuals. Even if you don’t know much about organs (I don’t), it’s hard not to be impressed.
Below the organ sit a pair of elaborate sarcophagi. They no longer contain remains, but they once held the coffins of Frederick I of Prussia and Sophia Charlotte of Hanover (now in the crypt; more on them later).
If you turn completely around so you’re facing the entrance again, you’ll see the Imperial Box, reserved for the emperor and his entourage during services.
The Hohenzollern Connection
On the right side of the cathedral is the marriage and baptismal chapel, which contains additional impressive sarcophagi and paintings by Albert Hertel.
The tomb on this side belong to members of the powerful House of Hohenzollern, the ruling family of Brandenburg and later Prussia. Two sarcophagi here belong to Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, and his wife Dorothea of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.
Another chamber holds the tombs of John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg (in bronze) and Frederick III of Prussia (in marble).
For those who aren’t deep into German royal history, Electors were ruling princes of Brandenburg, and most came from the Hohenzollern dynasty.
Don’t Forget to Look Up
One of the biggest mistakes visitors make in ornate churches is forgetting to look up.
The cathedral’s massive dome features a dove at its center, surrounded by mosaics depicting the Beatitudes. Around the dome are decorative friezes, and four sandstone bas-reliefs illustrating scenes from the Acts of the Apostles.
It’s the kind of ceiling that makes your neck hurt, because you can’t stop staring up at it.
Down to the Crypt
From the main church floor, you can go up to the dome walk or down into the Hohenzollern crypt. I decided to go down first.
The crypt contains 91 sarcophagi belonging to members of the ruling family dating back to the 1500s.
One thing that immediately struck me was how many of the coffins belonged to children; a sobering reminder of how common childhood mortality once was. There are a few exhibits before entering the crypt room explaining this.
Some coffins are topped with crowns, indicating that they belonged to rulers.
A few are badly damaged. During World War II, a bomb struck the cathedral, and parts of the church collapsed into the crypt below.
The monarchy itself was abolished in 1918, but the history of the dynasty is still very much present here.
The Dome Walk
After the crypt, I headed up 276 steps to the outside dome walk.
I had already climbed seven stories in the Victory Column (that’s another story for another blog), so these stairs felt manageable.
The climb changes as you go. At first, you have broad marble staircases, but the higher you climb, the narrower and more spiral the stairs become.
At the top, you step outside onto the dome walkway and get fantastic views of the surrounding area — Lustgarten, Museum Island, the Spree River, and rooftops across central Berlin.
One thing to know: it can be very windy up there, even on days when it feels calm at street level. The walkway is also fairly narrow, so I recommend going early in the day before the crowds arrive. On especially windy days, the walk may even close.
After Your Visit
When you exit the cathedral, you have a couple of great photo options.
You can cross Liebknechtbrücke (or Liebknecht Bridge) for beautiful views of the Spree, or walk into Lustgarten Park, where you’ll get some of the best postcard-style photos of the cathedral. When the fountain is running, it makes an especially nice foreground, though unfortunately it wasn’t on during my visit.
Alexanderplatz, the former main square of East Berlin, is a short walk away as well. More on the square in a later blog.
Final Thoughts
If you’re traveling to Berlin and want to experience some of the city’s architectural beauty and history, the Berlin Cathedral is absolutely worth your time.
Between the magnificent interior, the historic crypt, and the views from the dome, it’s one of those places where you’ll probably end up spending far longer than you planned, and leaving with far more photos than you expected.
Sound off in the comments below on what are must see places in Berlin!