Sophienkirche

In addition to the Sunday services, weddings, baptisms and various community activities, the Sophien Church is a popular concert venue due to its excellent acoustics and the wonderful Schuke Organ. Concerts are often recorded and transmitted, for example by the radio stations Deutschlandfunk-Kultur and RBB. As Berlin ‘s only surviving baroque church, it is also a popular shooting location for movies and TV series.

History of the Church: The Sophien Chuch was built in 1712/13 as a parish church of the Spandau suburb. The church bears the name of its patron, Queen Sophie Luise, who was the last wife of Frederick I. Between 1729 and 1735 the tower was built after a design by Johann Friedrich Grael. The tower was constructed by order of King Frederick William I (called the »Soldier King«), who adorned his residence city of Berlin with impressive church towers. In fact, it is one of nine towers he had built within twenty years. Of all these towers, only the one at the Sophien Church survives to this day, making it a unique monument to a great architectural epoch. The church, a simple but spacious hall, underwent many modifications and renovations, the most substantial of which took place in 1892. 

This era characterizes the church interior to this day: a ballroom with neo-Baroque decorations, in which the original pulpit, organ, baptismal font and some grave monuments have remained preserved to this day. Particularly charming is the location of the building on the grounds of the old church cemetery with its tall and majestic trees. In the heart of the densely built Spandauer suburb, a peaceful place is created. Here stand the graves of Karl Friedrich Zelter and Leopold von Ranke.

More information on the website of Sophienkirche.