Efimova Elizaveta on the Russian orthodox church and cemetery in Reinickendorf…
Despite being tucked into an industrial area and flanked by a discount drinks supplier and a Netto supermarket, it’s impossible not to spot the bright powder-blue onion domes of the Russian orthodox church poking through the birch and chestnut trees. Located along Reinickendorf’s Wittestrasse, the striking red-brick building also features a peaceful and picturesque cemetery dotted with crosses and headstones bearing Cyrllic inscriptions.
An official historical monument in the city, the brickwork entrance welcomes visitors with gates painted the same compelling blue of the copper domes and topped with a traditional carved wooden roof featuring church bells gifted by the Soviet Army in 1947; it looks for all the world like something from a Russian folk tale. On the other side of the gates is a small rectory and administrative cabin with wooden shutters that’s looks like it’s been plucked from the edges of Lake Baikal.
The atmosphere of the churchyard is reflective and intimate enough to make visitors instantly feel they should tread carefully and speak softly. The cemetery was created by funds donated by the Orthodox Brotherhood of St. Vladimir, represented by archpriest Alexander Malzew, who bought two acres of land for the graveyard in what was then Daldorf. Later, tsar Alexander III himself shipped four thousand tons of Russian soil to Germany, so that any Russians who died in foreign lands could rest in native ground.
At the heart of the cemetery sits the handsome church. Built in 1894 by Albert Bohm, a member of the Prussian court architectural board, it’s the oldest of the Russian Orthodox churches in Berlin—others can be found in the Wilmersdorf, Karlshorst, Lankwitz and Marzahn-Hellersdorf districts—and the only one with a graveyard in Germany.