New life for disused places of worship - By Matthias Pankau

Europe's flocks of practicing Christians are thinning. In Germany, their number by 2030 will probably fall to half their 1980 total, and about a third of the country's churches will no longer be needed. They are already being converted into private residences and even bars.

It was consecrated the Martini-Kirche or the Church of St. Martin. Could the name even then have hinted at its second, secular life as a temple to alcoholic consumption? Today, indeed, the Martini-Kirche in Bielefeld is no longer a church − it's a restaurant under a different name, "GlückundSeligkeit."

In its second coming, the building opened in 2005 under the leadership of Achim Fiolka, a restauranteur and businessman. It was unprecedented − the first time an entire church of this size had been completely refitted as a place for wining and dining. Where the devout once offered praise to God, today connoisseurs of fine food and drink indulge their passion on 620 square meters of floor space.

The bistro is in the main nave. In the slightly elevated choir at the end of the nave, there is a lounge zone with easy chairs. On the newly built organ loft, visitors now find a club lounge. The restaurant area is likewise on the second floor.

To conservative worshippers, it might seem like a revolution but it is only one example of the many churches in Europe that are being converted for other uses. For many Christians, giving up a church is an emotionally wrenching experience. Precious memories are often associated with the building - christenings, confirmations and funerals, for example. And, it seems Protestants have a harder time than Catholics in parting with a place of worship. Catholics have a formal ritual to de-sanctify the building, after which the place is simply no longer sacred. Protestantism, meanwhile, traditionally associates sanctity not so much with a location but with an event, for example a church service. Martin Luther (1483-1546) is believed to have said that if praying Christians no longer go to a church, it would be better to demolish it just like any other house that has fallen derelict.

In Germany, however, demolishing churches is out of the question. That is a point on which spiritual leaders and urban planners have agreed. At a recent conference in Weimar on "expanded uses" for churches, Engelbert Lütke Baldrup, a senior official at the Ministry for Transport, Construction and Urban Affairs made clear that the first goal in dealing with disused churches had to be saving them from being torn down. The reason, he said, was no matter whether in cities or the countryside, churches are often the most interesting edifices in the region and people identify with them far more than with other buildings.

"Expanded use" of churches is a prime model for securing and maintaining a church building, said Bochum-based church expert Manfred Keller. As he explained it, that would mean the congregation could still use the building for church services and related purposes but that in the meantime, the space could be made available for other occasions such as exhibitions, concerts or conventions.

There are already many examples of such uses. Take the Stadtpfarrkirche in the Brandenburg town of Müncheberg. Founded in the first half of the 13th century by Cistercian monks, the church was destroyed in April 1945. During its reconstruction between 1992 and 1997, the Gothic ruin received a new roof and a modern, architecturally unique interior. It houses the municipal library, a meeting hall and kitchen facilities. A new annex nestles onto the church nave's north wall.

Despite the modern annex, the Gothic church's space remains intact, with the walls of the heated ruin telling the haunting tale of this building's history. All its rooms are used for both sacred and secular purposes. The building is run and used equally by the Lutheran congregation, the municipality of Müncheberg and the Friends of the Stadtpfarrkirche Association.

Still, far more often than being put to "expanded use," churches in Germany are converted. One of the best known examples is in Milow, also in Brandenburg. Today, it houses a bank. And much like the Martini-Kirche, the church in Willingen is full seven days a week because it's a pub by the name of Don Camillo. The guests crowd in between the pulpit and sacristy. Where the organ once played, the toilets now flush. The bar has supplanted the altar. And in place of the Eucharist and sacramental wine, waiters serve sandwiches and beer. "Your average priest would be ecstatic to have his church as full as mine," said owner Bernd Nackas. The parish sold the building after having built a modern congregation center on the town's outskirts at the end of the 1960s.

One taboo in Germany - as well as in Switzerland and France - is selling Christian places of worship to Islamic communities. Whereas churches have been known to be passed on to Jewish congregations - such as in Bielefeld, where the Paul-Gerhard-Kirche was sold to the Jewish community and is currently being rebuilt as a synagogue - the Cross and Crescent remain incompatible in this respect.

It's a different story in the Netherlands. In Amsterdam, for example, the Catholic Sint-Ignatiuskerk was turned into the Turkish Fatih Mosque in the early 1980s. With its imposing double-tower front, the neo-Romanesque edifice, built in 1929 and under landmark protection, had to be changed only slightly. While praying, the worshippers now face the former main entrance. And, in place of crosses, crescents now adorn the towers.

Germany probably won't witness that kind of conversion anytime soon. Catholic and Lutheran leaders have agreed as much. They would rather have empty churches turned into living space, as happened to the Lutherkirche, built in 1896 in Berlin-Spandau. It was converted in 1997 because its seating space for 1,300 had become too big for the congregation. The interior was divided in two by a soundproof wall. The eastern part remained a sacral building, all the way to the vaulted ceiling, and is still used as a place of worship. The congregation's offices moved into the ground floor of the west wing, on top of which now stand nine apartments. Anyone preferring to have a church to themselves should browse through the Lutheran Church's real estate offerings online (www.kirchen­grundstuecke.de), where surprises and/or bargains can be discovered, be they properties, rectories or entire churches. Currently, 182 buildings, 101 properties and 36 commercial spaces are available. The demand is strong.

- Matthias Pankau is the Leipzig-based bureau chief for eastern Germany of IDEA, a Protestant wire service and weekly news magazine.