The Church of the Holy Ghost (german: Heiliggeistkirche) is a Swiss Reformed Church in Bern, Switzerland. The Swiss heritage site of national significance building is located at

Spitalgasse The Spitalgasse is one of the streets in the Old City of Bern, the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. It is part of the Äussere Neustadt which was built during the third expansion from 1344 to 1346. The eastern end is at Waisenhausp ...

44 in the

Old City of Bern The Old City (german: Altstadt) is the medieval city center of Bern, Switzerland. Built on a narrow hill bordered on three sides by the river Aare, its compact layout has remained essentially unchanged since its construction during the twelfth ...

. It is one of largest Swiss Reformed churches in Switzerland.

Early churches

The first church was a chapel built for the Holy Ghost hospital and abbey. The chapel, hospital and abbey were first mentioned in 1228 and at the time sat about outside the western gate in the first city wall. This building was replaced by the second church between 1482 and 1496. During the 15th century, the Holy Ghost Abbey began to slowly decline. In 1528 the church was secularized by the reformers and the last two monks at the Abbey were driven out of Bern.''Historische Notizen zur Heiliggeistkirche'', A. 5., G.2., F.4., F.2.
During the following years it was used as a granary. In 1604 it was again used for religious services, as the hospital church for the ''Oberer Spital''. At that time the church had a maximum capacity of about 750. The second church was demolished in 1726 to make way for a new church building.

Construction of the modern church

Following an 11-year planning phase, in 1726-29 the third church was built by Niklaus Schiltknecht. This church was built out of a local

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...

in the baroque style. Until 1865 it was located west of the '' Christoffelturm'' and the Christoffelturm Church. However, these buildings were demolished to make way for the new train station. During the 1726 construction of the church, Roman religious objects were discovered under the foundation. From this find, it appears likely that the church sits on the site of an old Roman temple.

Interior

The first organ in the new church was installed in 1804, and was replaced in 1933 by the second organ. The church has six bells, one of the two largest was cast in 1596 and the other in 1728. The four other bells were all cast in 1860. The interior is supported by 14 monolithic columns made of sandstone and has a free-standing pulpit in the northern part of the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

. Much like the St. Pierre Cathedral in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

, the Church of the Holy Ghost holds about 2,000 people and is one of the largest Protestant churches in Switzerland.

Notable ministers

From 1693 to 1698 the hospital's chief minister was the

Pietist Pietism (), also known as Pietistic Lutheranism, is a movement within Lutheranism that combines its emphasis on biblical doctrine with an emphasis on individual piety and living a holy Christianity, Christian life, including a social concern for ...

theologian Samuel Heinrich König. In 1829 and 1830, the

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

of the church was the poet

Jeremias Gotthelf Albert Bitzius (4 October 179722 October 1854) was a Swiss novelist; best known by his pen name of Jeremias Gotthelf. Biography Bitzius was born at Murten, where his father was pastor. The Bitzius family had once belonged to the Bernese patrici ...

. File:Heiliggeistkirche und Burgerspital (1719).JPG, Church of the Holy Ghost and the ''Burgerspital'' in 1719 File:Heiliggeistkirche Bern Nov 2004.jpg, Bubenbergplatz with the Church of the Holy Ghost File:HeiliggeistKirche Bern 6061.jpg, Interior

References

* Paul Hofer und Luc Mojon; ''Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kantons Bern Band V, die Kirchen der Stadt Bern'' 58. Band der Reihe ''Die Kunstdenkmäler der Schweiz'', Birkhäuser Basel 1969 ~~ISBN~~ Seiten 157 - 232

External links

Kirchgemeinde Heiliggeist

Abschnitt über die Heiliggeistkirche in Band 5 der ''Kunstdenkmäler des Kantons Bern''

Die Heilige-Geist-Kirche in Bern. In: Allgemeine Bauzeitung, 1888
from Anno (Austrian Newspapers Online)

{{Authority control Holy Ghost, Bern Old City (Bern) Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Bern Holy Ghost, Bern Holy Ghost, Bern Churches in the canton of Bern