VirginiaHuguenot
Puritanboard Librarian
In 1685, the year of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by French King Louis XIV, Elector Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg issued the Edict of Potsdam, which was essentially an invitation to Huguenots in France who were suffering in the throes of persecution to come and live in Germany in peace and safety. The invitation was a success. Thousands came. At one point, more French Huguenots lived in Berlin than Germans. To provide a place of worship for the Huguenots in Berlin, the Französischer Dom or French Huguenot Church, which I was privileged to visit in 1991, was built in the Gendarmenmarkt between 1701 and 1705, by Louis Cayart, and modelled on the main church of the Huguenots in Charenton near Paris which had been destroyed in 1688. It has a sister German Dom across the square. Thus, this year marks the 300th anniversary of this remarkable place of worship and refuge, and noble example of Franco-German architecture. The church today contains a Huguenot musuem.
