Cool places: 18 open churches added, Passionskirche first

In its practical test, the taz had hit a sore spot: classic cool refuges such as the Passionskirche in the Bergmannkiez were missing from our map. Churches simply were not a category. That changes with this update.

New on the map are 18 open churches and one neighbourhood centre. A selection:

• Passionskirche at Marheinekeplatz (Kreuzberg), an open church with its own heat protection campaign "Kühle Kirche" [Cool church]: until the end of August, it offers water, cool places to rest and shade on Mon to Wed, 2 to 6 pm
• Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church at Breitscheidplatz, daily 10 am to 6 pm, whose concrete honeycomb structure stays dark and cool even in high summer
• St Hedwig's Cathedral at Bebelplatz, fully renovated in 2024, Mon to Sat until at least 6 pm, free
• St Mary's Church at Alexanderplatz and Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche in Wilmersdorf (daily 8 am to 6 pm)
• Gethsemane Church in Prenzlauer Berg, weekdays 9 am to 6 pm, in the hottest Kiez surroundings in Berlin
• Tabor Church in Kreuzberg, which also offers a heat protection stay on Wednesdays
• Krankenhauskirche im Wuhlgarten (Marzahn) with a Café der Stille [Café of silence], Dorfkirche Lankwitz (800 years of fieldstone), Zionskirche, Sankt Ludwig, Sankt-Johannis-Kirche, St.-Thomas-Kirche at Mariannenplatz, Nikodemus-Kirche, Heilandskirche Moabit, Sophienkirche, Emmaus-Kirche and Berlin Cathedral (admission charged for visits)
• Stadtteilzentrum Kreativhaus on the Fischerinsel, with an honest note: summer break until mid-August

The map now shows 491 cool places open in summer, 298 of them free of charge.

A word on methodology, because it makes the difference here. We did not copy the Senate's map, whose database is not under an open licence. The geometries come from OpenStreetMap (ODbL). For every place, we researched opening hours, admission and summer availability individually on the websites of the congregations and operators. Ten further candidates did not pass this check. Sometimes only service times could be verified, sometimes the church is closed for renovation (St. Thomas von Aquin, soon also the Immanuelkirche), and sometimes the supposed opening time was in fact the office consultation hour. We deliberately leave such places out. We would rather have a gap than a locked door.

A curiosity on the side: the website of the Passionskirche stored in OpenStreetMap now leads to a casino spam page. The former concert domain was apparently abandoned and taken over. Finds like this are part of data maintenance too. We link to the congregation directly instead.