St. Hedwig's Cathedral
St.-Hedwig’s-Kathedrale is the Catholic cathedral of Berlin’s archdiocese, dedicated to Hedwig of Silesia, on Bebelplatz in the historic centre of the city. It was erected from 1747 to 1773 by order of Frederick the Great, following plans by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, with a neoclassical, Baroque-influenced design modelled on Rome’s Pantheon. Construction began in 1747, but financial pressure delayed progress until the consecration on 1 November 1773, officiated by Ignacy Krasicki. The cathedral’s story is also marked by the Nazi period: on the night of 9–10 November 1938, Bernhard Lichtenberg—canon of the cathedral chapter since 1931—prayed publicly for Jews at evening prayer, was later jailed, and died on the way to Dachau. He was laid to rest in the crypt in 1965. After Allied bombing on 1 March 1943 left only the damaged shell standing, the interior was restored from 1952 to 1963 in a post-war modernist style. …
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