The catholic St. Hedwig-Cathedral was built by Friedrich the Great. It was the second building of the planed Forum Fridericianum. The king gave in 1747 a piece of empty land behind the opera to the catholic community, as they didn't have their own church. After specification by the king, Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, his favourite architect produced drafts for the central building in the style of the Pantheon in Rome. The construction was done 1747-73 by Johann Boumann the elder. In Protestant Prussia was a catholic church then outrageous, but owed to the immigrating catholic Silesians after the Silesian wars.

The Hedwig-Church was promoted to a cathedral in 1929, the bishop's church of the diocese Berlin.
The diocese Berlin was appointed archbishopric in 1994. The catchment area with 380 000 believers, not only encompasses Berlin, but also the biggest part of Brandenburg as well as West Pomeranian including the island Rügen.

To the Homepage of the Erzbistum Berlin

The church with its imposing cupola (40 metre in diameter) and the classicism pillars are a joy to see. The cathedral burned down to its foundation after bombings in March 1943 and was rebuilt from 1952-63. The interior was kept demonstrative basic and the crypt as under church incorporated into the vestry.