Nikolaikirche, Medieval church and museum in Mitte, Germany.
Nikolaikirche is a Brick Gothic church in Berlin-Mitte whose west front preserves a fieldstone westwork from around 1230, while the red-brick nave and ambulatory choir date from the 14th and 15th centuries. A two-storey red-brick Lady Chapel with a stepped gable stands at the south-west corner. The tower carries a neo-Gothic double spire of green copper, added in 1876–1878, beside a stepped gable with a cross.
A late-Romanesque fieldstone basilica arose here from about 1230, its west front still standing. Around 1270 the nave became a brick hall church, and after the 1380 fire a late-Gothic hall with an ambulatory choir was built by about 1470. Hermann Blankenstein restored the building in 1876–1878 and added the neo-Gothic twin spires. Consecrated for the last time in 1938, it was rebuilt 1980–1983 as a museum.
The church is named after Saint Nicholas of Myra, suggesting it served a merchant settlement. Since 1938 it has no longer been a parish church; it belongs to the Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin and hosts regular concerts, with an organ recital almost every Friday at 5pm. The organ by Jehmlich of Dresden has 44 stops on three manuals.
The church stands in the Nikolaiviertel between Spandauer Straße, Rathausstraße, the Spree and Mühlendamm, with the entrances on Propststraße and Poststraße. The main axis deviates about five degrees northwest from true east. Organ recitals are usually held on Fridays at 5 pm; the Jehmlich organ has 44 stops on three manuals.
The tower globes were opened during restorations between 1514 and 1734; coins, medals, handwritten chronicles and prints were catalogued, then sealed back in weatherproof. The church holds 41 bells, and organ recitals are usually given on Fridays at 5pm.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,821 contributors worldwide.
