Berliner Dom

The first church built on the site of the current Cathedral was a 1465 church. The building, which later served as the court church for the Hohenzollern family was replaced by a cathedral, built between 1745 and 1747 in a Baroque design from Johann Boumann. It was reconstructed into a classicist building from 1816 to 1822 following a design by the Berlin architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel.

On Emperor Willem II's order, this domed building was demolished in 1894 and replaced by the current Cathedral. Much larger than any of the previous buildings, it was a Protestant counterweight to the St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The baroque building with Italian Renaissance influences was designed by Julius Raschdorff.
Construction of the 114m long and 73m wide Cathedral took place between 1894 and 1905.

During the Second World War, the building was hit by a fire bomb which severely damaged much of the Cathedral. A temporary roof was installed to protect what remained of the interior and in 1975 reconstruction of the church started.
The restoration of the interior begun in 1984 and in 1993 the church reopened. During reconstruction, the original design was modified into a more simplified form.

The Dom can be visited daily. Some interesting items in the richly decorated interior of the church are the magnificent Sauer's Organ, the 1530 Elector's tomb, the neo-baroque pulpit and the stained glasses designed by Anton von Werner. The main altar, which was saved from the previous cathedral dates from 1850.