Kirche Sankt Bonifatius (church)

The congregation’s first Catholic church service was held in today’s Gerhart Hauptmann Museum in 1910. A former military barrack on the museum premises was converted into the little ‘Stella maris’ chapel in the 1920s. Due to the chapel’s small size, the St Boniface Church was built in 1932 in a neo-Romanesque style. The church was named after Winfrid, a missionary and church reformer in the Frankish Empire, who was born in England around 672. Thanks to his comprehensive activities as a missionary, he has been worshipped as the ‘Apostle of the Germans’ since the 16th century. In 1855, he was declared a saint by Pope Pius IX. The church received a relic of Saint Boniface (a bone fragment) in 1936. This relic made Erkner a destination for pilgrimages that was popular until the 1950s. The church was only consecrated in 1941.

The air raid on Erkner on March 8, 1944 also caused severe damage to the church and the vicarage. Reconstruction was completed in 1949. Since 1949, the church has also been home to a small organ by the famous organ company Sauer. It was upgraded in the 1990s and taken into use in March 1997. Metal pipes from another Sauer organ that was to be replaced at the State Opera House ‘Unter den Linden’ in Berlin were added, among other work.

The church is located in the western part of town. The nearest bus stop is called Erkner - Robinienweg. The regional train and S-Bahn station Erkner with the central coach station is also not far from the church. The European Bicycle Route R1, the Spree Cycle Path and the Way of St. James all run past the church in immediate proximity.