Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

Known locally as “der hohle Zahn” — the Hollow Tooth — Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church stands at Breitscheidplatz as both a landmark and a reminder of Berlin’s turbulent past. Its surviving tower, scarred yet striking, draws the eye amid the modern buildings around it.

From imperial grandeur to war-torn ruin

The original church was built between 1891 and 1895, designed by architect Franz Schwechten. Thick walls, rounded arches, and simple decoration showed a neo-Romanesque influence, though the surviving fragments make any single style hard to define today.

On 22 November 1943, Allied bombing devastated the structure, leaving only one tower standing. That broken spire became a powerful symbol of the city’s wartime destruction and later reconstruction.

Debate, design, and a new place of worship

After the war, Berliners faced a difficult choice: demolish the damaged church and rebuild it completely, or preserve the ruins as a memorial. The decision led to a compromise. Architect Egon Eiermann designed a new complex completed in December 1961, while the shattered tower remained.

The ensemble includes four main parts around the old tower: a central worship space, a foyer, a new bell tower, and a chapel. The new octagonal church, famous for its blue stained-glass windows, contrasts boldly with the weathered remains beside it, highlighting the passage from past to present.

Memory in mosaics and museum pieces

Beneath the ruined tower, a small memorial museum displays artifacts from the original church. Mosaics, fragments, and other salvaged details speak to the building’s imperial origins and its transformation into a monument against war. Together, the preserved ruins and the modern structures form one of Berlin’s most recognizable ensembles, keeping history visible in the heart of the city.