Sacred Soil: Berlin’s Rammed-Earth Reconciliation Chapel is Part of the Berlin Wall Memorial

Risen literally from the dust of a divided Berlin, the <a title="" href="http://www.kapelle-versoehnung.de/bin/englisch/index.php">Chapel of Reconciliation</a> stands as one of the most compelling examples of contemporary <a title="" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rammed-earth_construction">rammed-earth</a> architecture I've seen in a long time. Located on a site that had once been a deadly no-man's-land, the Chapel is Berlin's first public building, and sole church, constructed of load-bearing earth. As the 25th anniversary of the Berlin Wall's demolition approaches, let's take a look at this symbolic building and how it came to be.

The slatted exterior walls bathe the inner chapel with sunshine, but also leave shadows that imply prison bars.

The interior chapel is quiet and simple.

The chapel's rammed earth walls give an interesting texture to the space.

Light floods into the sanctuary via a skylight.

Tables and chairs in the courtyard space, with those bar-like shadows draped over them.

Another view of the courtyard space between exterior wall and chapel.

The implied bars remind visitors of the wall that once separated East and West Berlin.

A statue of two people kneeling and embracing sits outside the chapel, reminding us of the many family and friends whose lives had been divided by the wall.

A view of the original Church of Reconciliation, with the barbed wire-topped wall in the foreground.