The Holy Spirit Chapel (Heilig-Geist-Kapelle) in Berlin-Mitte

Analysis and survey, building research and restoration and conservation concept

The Holy Spirit Chapel is the last remaining part of the former Holy Spirit Hospital in Berlin-Mitte and is one of the few preserved medieval buildings in Berlin’s urban space. It thus represents an important testimony to the city’s early development. The services for this project ranged from findings and building research on the room’s shell, damage mapping, to the painterly reconstruction of the now rediscovered vault painting on a 1:10 scale. Furthermore, proposals for the building’s future use and a cost estimate for the upcoming measures were prepared. In this context, a comprehensive archive research on the building’s history, which had not been available before, was conducted. All investigations ultimately led to the development of a restoration and usage concept for the chapel space, now used as a lecture hall by the Humboldt University.

Reconstruction drawing of the vault painting based on actual findings

First reconstruction drawing of the vault painting based on actual findings (1996)

Services
  • Conservation-restoration investigations in the interior, findings investigation, and building research
  • Development of the restoration concept and usage plan
  • Cost estimation for the upcoming measures
Client

Humboldt University of Berlin, Building Department

Execution Period

1995 – 1996


Publikation

 Breitenfeldt/Beseler – Breitenfeldt/Heuler/Hüffer/Hüttenrauch 2005; Die Heilig-Geist-Kapelle in Berlin – Geschichte, Forschung, Restaurierung, hg v. d. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Landesdenkmalamt Berlin, u. a., bearb. von Jörg Breitenfeldt, Norbert Heuler, Ursula Hüffer, Jenny Hüttenrauch, Petersberg 2005.