Marienkirche is the church of the
bishop of the
Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia with
Berlin Cathedral being under joint supervision of all the member churches of the
Union of Evangelical Churches. However, the church is not titled cathedral, a titulature not usual in German Protestantism but only colloquial for cathedral churches which used to be sees of Catholic bishops before the Reformation. Along with the
Nikolaikirche, the Marienkirche is the oldest church in Berlin. The oldest parts of the church are made from
granite, but most of it is built of
brick, giving it its characteristic bright red appearance. This was deliberately copied in the construction of the nearby Berlin City Hall, the
Rotes Rathaus. During
World War II, it was heavily damaged by Allied bombs. After the war the church was in
East Berlin, and in the 1950s it was restored by the
East German authorities. Before World War II, the Marienkirche was in the middle of a densely populated part (
Marienviertel) of the district of
Mitte, and was in regular use as a parish church. After the war, this area was cleared of ruined buildings and today the church stands in the open spaces around the Alexanderplatz, and is overshadowed by the East Berlin television tower, the
Fernsehturm. There is a striking statue of
Martin Luther outside the church. The Marienkirche also contains the monumental tomb of
Otto Christoph von Sparr,
Generalfeldmarschall of
Brandenburg-Prussia made by the Flemish sculptor
Artus Quellinus the Elder possibly with the assistance of
Bartholomeus Eggers. Carl Hildebrand Freiherr von Canstein, the founder of the oldest Bible society of the world, the Cansteinsche Bibelanstalt, was also buried in the church in 1719. Image:Neuer Markt, Berlin 1880.jpg|
Neuer Markt and St. Mary's Church, ca. 1880 Image:Berlin Mitte St. Marienkirche Lutherdenkmal 1906.jpg|St. Mary's Church surrounded by houses of the
Marienviertel and the Luther monument, 1906 Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-24785-0005, Berlin, Marienkirche.jpg|Similar perspective, 1954 Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1985-0406-005, Berlin, Marienkirche, Fernsehturm.jpg|St. Mary's Church and
Fernsehturm, 1985 Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1987-0311-032, Berlin, Marienkirche vom Rathausturm.jpg|St. Mary's Church from the tower of the
Rotes Rathaus, 1987 Image:View of St Marienkirche from the Berlin TV tower.jpg|St. Mary's Church from the
Fernsehturm, 2009 Image:Relief Karl-Liebknecht-Str 8 (Mitte) Stadtmodell 1880.jpg|City model with St. Mary's Church in
Marienviertel and
Heilige-Geist-Viertel around 1880, Alexanderplatz station on the left,
Berlin Palace on the right ==Personalities==