BEER-BOTTLE WINDOWS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22341, 28 May 1947, Page 5

BEER-BOTTLE WINDOWS

BERLIN CHURCH PLAIN GLASS SCARCE BERLIN, May 1. It is doubtful whether beer bottles have ever been used instead of stained glass for church windows. But that is what is happening here. Heaps of old, green bottles are in. front of the Apostle Church. Inside, the glaziers are busy at the high windows. They cut the bottle in half and put them in long lines in the open windows. Beer bottle glass also is being used to replace scarce plain glass. Devout churchgoers don’t mind the use of beer bottles for the windows of their church. They are grateful for the soft, green light that comes through, and more grateful still that they stop a howling wind from whistling through the unheated building. When hostilities ceased, Berlin had few churches left. Parishioners started to repair the damage -themselves. No building material, however, was allowed for churches, all being used for houses. But the Berliners worked with anything they could find to fix the roofs and thus save whatever was left of value inside the church. Berlin never has been famous for ancient buildings, but it had a number of valuable medieval churches. The Marienkirche—Saint Mary’s Church—is the only one left. The building of this church was begun in 1260, but before completion it was razed in a city-wide fire. In 1380, it was rebuilt in late Gothic style. In the following centuries, the cathedral was often restored. The late war added some damage, but the building survived. There is another famous Berlin church —that of the French Huguenots. This looks completely smashed, but there is one small part which can ne saved. It was built in 1689 when the Huguenots, who fled France to escape persecution for their Protestant religious belief, settled in Berlin and other cities.