The Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom) was erected during the reign of William II (1883-1905). By design, it was to become the main Protestant church in Europe, by analogy with the Catholic Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome. The neoclassical Schinkel Cathedral (1822) that existed on this site seemed to the Kaiser not sufficiently monumental, so it was demolished, thereby clearing the place for creativity of Otto and Julius Rashdorff, the architects of the new, pseudo-Renaissance building. The Berlin Cathedral, in their version, contradicts all Lutheran standards: a massive building with fantastically expensive decoration runs counter to the simplicity and restraint that Protestants preach. Kaiser, however, was pleased. The cathedral consists of a central part, crowned with a huge (85-meter) dome, and two side chapels. In 1945, a bomb hit the dome, but the building was not demolished; For almost 50 years, it stood decapitated until, in 1993, the restoration was finally completed.