Page 353 - pe2021

International/Overseas calls:
Tour Booking Italy: + 378 (0)549 975 300 Help Line: + 39 335 570 3575
Booking EU West: +378 (0)549 975 330
Accounting: +378 (0)549 975 345
Germany Booking EU East: +378 (0)549 975 333 Fax: +378 (0)549 942 729

info@podium.travel - incentive@podium.travel
podiumnetwork.com /Podium.Travel /podiumto /podiumtouroperator /PodiumWebTV

in 1943. Deconsecrated and reopened in 1996, the 11th anniversary of the fall of the Wall, a
today it houses an interesting exhibition on the new chapel was inaugurated. Mass is regularly
Religious weekend in Berlin history of the German parliament (Bundestag’s celebrated here to remember the victims, from
Tuesday to Friday at 12.00. We proceed to the
Museum). We cross the most elegant street in
4 days Berlin, originally an equestrian track that con- American Church in Berlin, an ecumenical con-
nected the royal palace with the hunting reserve gregation founded in 1886 for an exciting guided
of the Tiergarten, Unter den Linden and we arrive tour. Here the pastor will give us an introduction
1st Day: Berlin at the only gate left of the city walls of the 1700s, in English on the history of the community. We
We begin our itinerary by walking in the Nikolai the Brandenburg Gate, today symbol of United proceed to the main commercial area of the city,

district (Nikolaiviertel), which takes its name Germany. the Ku’damm. At its center, we discover the Kai-
from the patron saint of the city. Born around ser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche (Memorial Church
270 AD in present day Turkey, he was bishop of Curiosity: With the Protestant reform, Luther of Emperor William). Built in 1895, the tower was
Myra and already in the Middle Ages, he became replaced the feast of St. Nicholas with the figure destroyed during the Second World War. In 1961
one of the most popular saints of the Christian of Christkindl, an angelic child Jesus who brought a blue glass walled worship room with a large
religion, thanks to numerous legends concerning gifts to children, trying to reduce the importance modern statue of Jesus Christ was added.
his miracles. of St. Nicholas. Protestants normally do not Curiosity: possibility of holding mass in the
The Nikolaiviertel is the oldest residential area in pray and do not venerate the Saints, however church of Heilig Kreuz, in the Wilmerdsorf dis-
Berlin. the Nikolaustag (day of Nicholas) still remains trict. The parish priest will explain to us some de- Business Proposals in Germany
Until the Second World War, the neighborhood a heartfelt celebration in all German-speaking tails about the Italian Mission in Berlin which, in
was characterized by numerous craft activities. countries today. 2020, celebrates 70 years of activity.
The cobbled streets and medieval alleys were
rebuilt by the GDR to celebrate the 750th an- 3rd Day: Berlin
niversary of the founding of the city in 1987. The Marienkirche has decided to restructure the Let’s enjoy a walk in the district of Friedrichshain:
The Church of San Nicola, dating back to 1200, fresco entitled “the dance of death” in an inter- on the fairy-tale Stralau peninsula, there is an
is the oldest in the city, and is characterized by active way: they have in fact created a mosaic ancient church dating back to the 1400’s in late
late Gothic spiers. Inside, in the central part, the copy of the work, and visitors can buy a mosaic Gothic style. The decorations are really beautiful,
14th century bronze baptismal font, the late Re- card. When 70,000 tiles have been sold, the fres- in particular the only medieval stained glass win-
naissance altar and the Baroque pulpit are still co will be restored. dows in all of Berlin, as well as the Flagellation of
visible. Today it houses an exhibition on the his- Christ of 1460 and the San Giorgio of 1510.
tory of the building and the neighborhood. We Besides Bernhard Lichtenberg, over four thou- The baptismal font seems to date back to the late
recommend climbing the tower in good weather. sand Catholic priests were killed by the Nazis. Roman era. We cross the Potsdamer Platz, today
We continue towards the Marienkirche, the se- They were shot on the spot, in their dioceses, or a futuristic area with great modern skyscrapers,
cond oldest church in the city. taken to death in concentration camps for capital to arrive at the Gemäldegalerie (Painting Gal-
The simple architecture is reminiscent of a village executions, medical experiments, hunger, tor- lery). Here we admire the sacred works of some
church. Inside we find a combination of exquisite ture, ill-treatment. Only in Dachau from 1942 to of the greatest European masters from 1200 to
Gothic, Baroque and neo-Gothic elements, in- 1945, more than a thousand Catholic priests left 1700, including Giotto, Botticelli, Raffaello, Cara-
cluding the pulpit, the organ and the baptismal their lives. vaggio, Van Eyck, Dürer and Rembrandt. You have
font. At the entrance there is a fresco dating back a free time for individual visits and shopping.
to 1485, 2 meters high and 22 meters long, en- An organ concert takes place every Wednesday
titled “the dance of death” (Totentanz), named at 15h00 in the Saint Edvige Cathedral at about Curiosity: The fire of the Flakturm Friedrichshain
after the artistic movement dating back to the 15 minutes. The space is filled with a majestic of the Gemäldegalerie which broke out in 1945
Middle Ages. sound with a surprising echo. and lasted for five days is considered one of the
We walk in the direction of the Berlin Cathedral greatest disasters in the history of art. Among
(Berliner Dom), the symbol par excellence of the 2nd Day: Berlin the 417 destroyed paintings, there are tables and
power of the Prussian empire. In the neo-Renais- We visit the Memorial and the interesting docu- paintings by Cranach, Caravaggio, Rubens, Goya,
sance style, the building is considered the Pro- mentation center of the Wall in Bernauerstrasse Friedrich, to name a few.
testant version of the Vatican City’s Saint Peter (Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer). Here stood the
Basilica. Church of the neo-Gothic Conciliation, dating 4th Day:
Inside there are masterpieces of sacred art in- back to 1894. After the construction of the Wall, Breakfast is at hotel. End of Services.
cluding the monumental pipe organ and the the building became unreachable for the pop-
collection of sarcophagi of the largest Prussian ulation. In 1985 the GDR government ordered
royal family in the world (the Hohenzollern crypt the church demolished. In 2000, to celebrate
which has a total of 94 monuments). Let’s go to
the St. Edvige cathedral, it is the most important
building of the Christian religion in Berlin and Berlino Isola dei Musei- Berlin: Museums’ island
seat of the archbishopric since 1930. Before the
Second World War, the whole building was in
neo-classical style, with inspiration from the Pan-
theon of Rome. With the reconstruction, which
took place between 1952 and 1963, some mod-
ern minimalist elements were added inside. In
the crypt there are the tombs of numerous bish- 353
ops of Berlin and Bernhard Lichtenberg, a priest
killed in a concentration camp and beatified as a
martyr, is also buried there. In the most beauti-
ful square in Berlin, the Gendarmenmarkt, two
domes face each other, the French one (Fran-
zösicher Dom) and the German one (Deutscher
Dom). The French church was built in 1672 by
the Huguenot community (French-speaking Prot-
estants persecuted at home), which represent-
ed almost 25% of the population. In the tower
there is an interesting museum on the history of
the community. The Deutscher Dom, the largest
Protestant church in Berlin, was heavily bombed
Itinerari Religiosi Religious Tours