#Katharinenportal for
#MonochromeMonday
This
#Baroque portal in
#Magdeburg once belonged to the medieval St Katharine's Church (St.-Katharinen-Kirche). The church, destroyed during the Thirty Years' War and rebuilt in the 1660s, was gutted by fire in the Second World War. Despite this, its ruins provided shelter to many in January 1945 during the city's most devastating bombing raid.
In the 1960s, the ruins were demolished, as socialism had no place for religion. Only this fragment of the church's west portal remained. The sculpture of St Catherine (Katharina in German) was relocated to another church, while the portal itself was stored by a construction company.
In 2016, the portal was restored and reinstalled near its original location on
#BreiterWeg, one of Magdeburg's main avenues. Today, it stands between modern shops and high-rise buildings. Poor Katharina may seem out of place here, but she serves as a poignant reminder of the past and the history she has witnessed since her creation in 1668.
#architecture #Architektur #Barock #cityscape #historical #BWPhotography #BWPhoto #greyscale #grayscale #bnw #BlackAndWhitePhotography #BlackAndWhitePhoto #MonochromePhotography #archway #Tor #Torbogen #Doorsday