1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
Live TV
Latest audioLatest videos
In focus
Russia's war in UkraineIsrael-Hamas warIndia elections
Religion

Faith Matters - The Artist Who Saves Churches

February 7, 2021

The artist Moritz Götze grew up in East Germany, in an atheistic environment. However, shortly after the collapse of communism in 1989 he helped turn a church ruin into a cultural center and conserved what was left of the historic building.

https://p.dw.com/p/3p0Ns

Later, he saved the crumbling Castle Church in Bernburg, Saxony-Anhalt, restoring it by means of large donations and decorating the interior over the course of three years with his works in enamel inspired by Pop Art. During this period he developed a close relationship with the pastor, who advised and inspired him in his choice of themes. The state premier of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, has called it "a unique church worldwide". Moritz Götze has just embarked on a new project: saving the church ruins in Pobles, where Nietzsche’s grandfather was the pastor and whose gravestone has been preserved. Götze guesses that this is the mysterious location referred to as "Kaisersaschern" in Thomas Mann’s novel Doctor Faustus, the imaginary birthplace of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.