Herrnhut

The Church Hall (Der Kirchensaal)

The Moravians live their faith as brothers and sisters and the priesthood of all congregation members lies at the root of everything they do. There are no hierarchies, so the church services are simply called assemblies; a simplicity without distractions is reflected in the architecture of the prayer hall, which they call Kirchensaal. The first building dating from 1724 quickly became too small, so thirty years later the foundation stone was laid for a larger one, built in the typical country baroque style of Saxony. In May 1945, the building was almost completely destroyed by arson by the Red Army, except for ist outer walls. Rebuilt in the 1950s, the two-storey Great Hall is painted and decorated completely in white, symbolising purity and redemption. Until the middle of the last century, men and women sat there separately on the brothers’ and sisters’ sides respectively. Despite all the simplicity, music is a fundamental part of the Moravians’ congregational life. Count Zinzendorf believed that songs were the best way to bring the truth of God into people’s hearts. And so the large organ is an important instrument and beautiful ornament of the church hall, which we now leave to continue on to the local history museum.