Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church ruins & memorial hall

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church ruins - darkometer rating : 3 - The landmark WWII church ruin in West Berlin , the main tower left in its semi-collapsed state to serve as a memorial. It's complemented by a modern church next to it and the ground floor hall of the ruined tower now houses a small exhibition. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: The old church, of which today you can only see the broken tower of, wasn't actually that old, only constructed towards the end of the 19th century, and was consecrated in 1895. The project was instigated by the ill-fated last Prussian emperor, Wilhelm II, in honour of his rather grander grandfather emperor Wilhelm I, and accordingly named Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche in German (so now you know which William it is in memory of …). The design of the church was somewhat unusual for the region, partly because the architect modelled it on his homeland style of the Rhineland, employing sandstone and an overall neo-Romanesque approach coupled with neo-Gothic elements. The main tower (of five in total) stood 370 feet (113 m) tall and the church had seating for over 2000 people. During WWII the church was badly damaged in an RAF air raid on 23 November 1943. The nave was almost completely destroyed and burned out, but parts of the outer structure and, in particular, the main tower was left standing, although the top of the spire had collapsed. After the war, the shell of the ruined church quickly became something of a memorial landmark of West Berlin . In 1956/57, architect Egon Eiermann won a competition for the design of a new church at the site. To make room for it, most of the area space of the old ruin was cleared, i.e.