St. Michael's Church, Berlin 2.42

Saint Michael's is a Roman Catholic church in Berlin, Germany, dedicated to the Archangel Michael. It is located in Mitte, near the border between Berlin-Mitte locality and Kreuzberg. The church was built between 1851 and 1861, and also served as a garrison church for Catholic soldiers. It was heavily damaged by bombing during the Second World War and partially reconstructed in the 1950s. It is protected as a historical monument in Berlin.SiteSaint Michael's is located on the Michaelkirchplatz in Engelbecken, which was part of the old Luisenstadt Canal, along which the Berlin Wall ran until German reunification. After the canal's closure in 1926, the space was converted into a park, which offered an uninterrupted view of St Michael's from the south. This view was opened up after the fall of the Berlin Wall, such that the church is once more seen in the way it was originally conceived. Michaelkirchstraße runs from Michaelkirchplatz to the River Spree, crossing, and has existed since the sixteenth century. In the immediate neighbourhood of the church, there are also monuments set up by the and the College of St Mary's Church.HistoryDesign (1846–1850)The Protestant king Frederick William IV approved the construction of a second Roman Catholic church in Berlin after the Reformation, which was originally planned mainly as a church for the military garrison. It was intended to give Catholic soldiers living in Berlin a spiritual home and ease the pressure on St. Hedwig's Cathedral.