Bethanienkirche

Bethanienkirche stands in Leipzig’s Schleußig district, an evangelical Lutheran church built from 1931 to 1933. Carl William Zweck and Hans Voigt designed the building in the geometric style of New Objectivity. Its round tower rises 38.6 metres above the street and recalls medieval Thuringian defence towers. A 14-metre concrete cross crowns it and shines at night.

Schleußig held its first church service in a school auditorium in 1892, before becoming its own parish in 1906. A 2,000-square-metre plot enabled an architectural competition with 59 designs in 1928. Construction followed the winning proposal, and the church opened on 29 January 1933. Bomb damage in 1944 closed the building until 1948, with repairs completed in 1950.

Inside, three aisles lead towards a choir with a red-and-grey marble altar and blue-and-gold decoration restored in 1988. Emil Block created the central stained-glass window, The Entering Christ, alongside paintings of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. Solnhofen stone slabs, brass fittings and warm light shape the upper floor. Below, a 240-seat community hall joins offices, a kitchen, a stage and smaller rooms beneath one roof. The mechanical Jehmlich organ, installed in 1992 behind a concrete arch, shares space with an elevator added in 2016. That lift makes the church and community halls wheelchair accessible.