Marienkirche

Marienkirche stands in Neubrandenburg, a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district. Built in the North German red brick Gothic style, it was completed in 1298 as the city’s main church. After damage in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was rebuilt between 1832 and 1841. In the final days of the Second World War it suffered further destruction. The town later chose to turn the ruined church into a concert hall rather than restore it as a place of worship.

The conversion was guided by an architectural competition in 1996, won by Finnish architect Pekka Salminen. His design keeps the historic walls visible while inserting a new ‘house within a house’. Inside, an acoustic wall divides the foyer from the shoebox-shaped concert hall. A suspended glass ceiling of shaped pyramids improves the sound. The hall can seat up to 1,100 people depending on the arrangement.

Visitors enter through the foyer, where the old brickwork remains exposed. The concert hall itself sits inside the original church walls, its glass ceiling casting shifting patterns of light. The Philharmony of Neubrandenburg performs here regularly. Outside, the church’s red brick façade still marks the skyline of the town centre.