Missing St. Moritz

The story of a vanished church

Kreuzbeschlag, 1. Drittel 13. Jahrhundert, Fundort: Berlin-Spandau, Moritzkirche Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte

Spandau's Moritzkirche was possibly the oldest church in what is now Berlin. A wooden church with a churchyard already existed around 1180, which was replaced by a stone building in the 13th century and later rebuilt. The French-Napoleonic occupation of Spandau in 1806 desecrated the building and used it as a slaughterhouse and warehouse. The Prussian army also kept the former church in military use as barracks. In 1920, the year Spandau was incorporated into Greater Berlin, the original medieval building was demolished to make way for new residential buildings.

Although the approximate location remained known, it was a minor sensation when the medieval foundation walls of the Moritzkirche were rediscovered during construction work in 2023. With this exhibition, the Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Spandau is devoting itself for the first time comprehensively to the history of the forgotten church. The focus is on the 2023/24 archaeological excavations carried out there and the results of their research. On display are selected original objects - some from graves in the churchyard - and archival documents, some of which date back to the Middle Ages and can only rarely be exhibited. Later documents, historical photographs and digital archaeological evaluations provide further exciting insights - and raise the question of whether Spandau's church history is also older than that of Berlin-Cölln.

 

Translated with DeepL

Runtime: Thu, 19/03/2026 to Sun, 05/07/2026

Takes place here:

• Gotisches Haus