New design of St. Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin sparks both praise and criticism

St. Hedwig’s Cathedral in Berlin, Germany. / Cedric BLN via Wikimedia (Public domain).

CNA Deutsch, Nov 25, 2024 / 12:01 pm (CNA).

The Archdiocese of Berlin celebrated the reopening of St. Hedwig’s Cathedral on Sunday after more than six years of renovation work. The interior has been given a state-of-the-art makeover, but not everyone is responding with enthusiasm. 

In his homily on Sunday, Berlin Archbishop Heiner Koch summarized the intention behind the new design: “In the current renovation of St. Hedwig’s Cathedral according to the designs of architect Peter Sichau and artist Leo Zogmayer, it was important to us that Catholics find a home here in this church and that people who do not share our faith also feel addressed by the language of the architecture and the artistic design and can perceive this church as a place of reflection, conversation, and open searching.”

Ulrich L. Lehner, the Warren Foundation Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, in a post on X shared his response to the design of the cathedral writing: “This is what 40 million get you for your new Cathedral when you are a #Catholic Bishop in Germany: an eggshell altar. Dedicated to the ‘supreme being”? The building is a visible sign for the dead #German #church – it is a shell without any life inside. Nobody will pray here.”

Koch spoke to the hopes and disappointments people may have when they see the renovations, saying in his sermon that “the design of St. Hedwig’s Cathedral addresses the dark experiences of many people.”

“For example, in the crypt in the Neapolitan nativity scene, the depiction of the birth of Christ includes the poverty and the drama of the flight of so many people,” he said. “On the Way of the Cross in the crypt, which takes up the suffering of many people, is the chapel in which the guilt of the church over the course of its 2,000-year history and the suffering it has caused find expression. In addition, our recent history in Germany is taken up, in which we failed and did not sufficiently address the violation of human dignity.”

The archbishop continued: “As Christians, we believe in the good God, who holds our lives and our history and the future of the world in his hands and who has given us salvation in Jesus Christ. We believe in God, who leads people’s lives to fulfillment, who has torn open the heavens and gives us a healthy, meaningful and fulfilling future that allows us to live together and leads our lives to unfold.”

Against this background, the crypt, he said, “does not stop at people’s dark experiences, but shows itself to be a place of hope. The tomb of Blessed Bernhard Lichtenberg and the tombs of the bishops bear witness to the hope of resurrection that fills us.”

The redesigned interior of the Berlin cathedral takes up the “confession of Christ, the Savior, the fulfillment and completion of our lives and our future”, explained Koch. 

“The center of the cathedral is the altar as a symbol of Christ, of his life, suffering, death and resurrection. The church gathers around it and honors him in the liturgy. The community of believers gathers around it with the bishop, whose cathedra is inserted into this circle of believers around the altar as a sign of his task and his authority to lead and teach his diocese. Saint Hedwig thus becomes an expression of the idea of communion, which we have placed at the center of our life in the Archdiocese of Berlin and to which we are committed in the development of the synodality of our Church: communion with God and with one another.”

During his time as Cardinal and Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Pope Benedict XVI categorized such a design of the interior of churches with the words: “The turning of the priest towards the people now forms the congregation into a self-contained circle. In terms of form, it is no longer open towards the front and above, but is closed in on itself.”

Cologne Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, in contrast, said he is delighted with the new interior of St. Hedwig’s Cathedral.“When I entered the room, I was completely overwhelmed. I was speechless at the brightness, the size, and the freedom that this space breathes. It is actually unrecognizable when you compare it to the room I remembered.”

Woelki was Archbishop of Berlin from 2011 to 2014.

“The Pantheon was brought to Berlin from Rome,” Woelki said on Sunday in an interview with Cologne Cathedral Radio. “The altar is at the very center. Christ is at the center, next to it the cross, the ambo, from there the proclamation of the Word and overall simplicity. The space gives freedom, but at the same time it also creates a closeness to one another. People now sit much closer and kneel much closer to the salvation that takes place on the altar.”

St. Hedwig’s Cathedral dates back to the 18th century. The building burned down during the Second World War. When it was rebuilt, it was already a very modern church. A few decades later, it was re-redesigned, initiated by Woelki.

This article was originally published by CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German language news partner, and has been translated and adapted for CNA.