The Protestant Matthew Church in Steglitz, Berlin, was built from 1876 to 1880 to replace the undersized and dilapidated Steglitzer village church. In 1880 three inaugurated naves was designed by the architect Emil Gette. The church, parish hall, rectory and cemetery are now listed.
History
The first pastor was Arthur Wuthenow, and a small street is named after him in the vicinity of the church today. On March 1, 1945, almost all the church windows were destroyed by pressure waves in an air raid. In 1957 the church received a renovation by architect Dr. Gabler. In 2002, Matthew Church counted about 5360 members, had two pastors and operated a nursery and a kindergarten. Member of the Confessing Church - to be particularly effective active pastor who came from East Prussia Wolfgang G. Friedrich should be noted that until 1973 in the municipality was in 1950 at home and then in 'retirement' excursionists Church of St. Peter and Paul supervised in Nikolskoe
Building
The site called for deviating from the usual orientation system: The altar is facing southeast to northwest, the tower. The layout is similar with his cross a central structure. The nave is 37 meters long, the transept has a length of 29 meters. The clearance height is 13.5 meters. The so-called "crossing" can from the richly structured pillar profiles the ribs of the star vault powerful ascend and come together at a height of 20 meters up. A heavily accented triumphal arch leads to the choir which is elevated three steps. The nave to the tower is the same length as the crossing, the cross arms of the cross only half as long. This makes the church a closed, combined impression; it acts not unlike a centralized building. The structural parts are made of Ziegelfugenbau and cleaned the window walls. The organ and side balconies executed in timber fit unobtrusively the large space and do not interfere with its effect. The exterior of the church is staying close to the medieval Brandenburg brick Gothic, as they were then understood. The tower is 68 meters high, the helmet alone without cross 20 meters. The economy forced however to make the tower slender than it was intended. It thus appears even higher and stands as a symbol of the old Steglitz well beyond the narrow house fronts. Inside it three cast steel bells were hanged cast in 1919 by the Bochumer association.
Readings
Günther Kühne, Elisabeth Stephanie: Evangelische Kirchen in Berlin, Berlin 1978.
Klaus-Dieter Wille: Die Glocken von Berlin. Geschichte und Inventar, Berlin 1987.
Architekten- und Ingenieur-Verein zu Berlin: Berlin und seine Bauten. Teil VI. Sakralbauten, Berlin 1997.
Christine Goetz, Matthias Hoffmann-Tauschwitz: Kirchen Berlin Potsdam, Berlin 2003.
Georg Dehio: Handbuch der Deutschen Kunstdenkmäler. Band Berlin, München/Berlin 2006.
