Several English-language plaques offer a brief history of the gate and Pariser Platz on either side of the arch, but after snapping a few quick photos, most folks move on. The best photo-op is at dusk, when the gate is evocatively lit by a series of lights. Did it meet expectations? With a chariot drawn by four horses and driven by the goddess of victory, this triumphal arch, which is surrounded by the French and American embassies, parliament offices, and the post-reunification federal quarter, looks every bit as monumental as it should.
It was here that , Berliners converged in to topple the Berlin Wall that divided them for decades. The horse and goddess were hastily packed up in a series of crates and moved across the continent. The cross was later removed during the Communist era, and only permanently restored in during the unification of Germany.
January Hitler comes to power After a meteoric rise to power at the head of his Nazi Party and a power struggle with German President Paul von Hindenburg, Adolf Hitler was appointed to the position of chancellor on January 30, That evening, the new chancellor was treated to a torchlight procession through Berlin, as thousands of brown shirted stormtroopers and SS members passed under the Brandenburg Gate to the presidential palace, where Hitler and high-ranking members of the Nazi Party were cheered.
It was the first of many large-scale propaganda events held by the Nazis as they tightened their control over Germany in the years leading up to World War II. In the monument was crowned with a chariot drawn by four horses heading into the city, known as the Quadriga.
The bronze statue represents the Goddess of Victory. The original sculpture was destroyed during World War II, so it was replaced by an exact replica made in West Germany in The Gate is held up by twelve columns with five passageways. From its inauguration until , the central access was exclusively for the members of the German Royal Family and members of the Bourgeoisie.
A National Icon. For more than years, Brandenburg Gate has served as the national icon for an evolving German identity. In the s, King Frederick William I issued orders for the Prussian capital of Berlin to be fully enclosed by a wall. Built not to defend the city, but to tax people as they traveled in and out of town, the Customs Wall was intended to reduce the power of the estates general the clergy, wealthy merchants, and lesser nobles by transferring their capital to the crown who spent it on a large professional army to expand the kingdom.
Fifty years later, King Frederick William II decided that the Customs Wall, while useful, was not an aesthetically pleasing way to enter the city. He wanted a much grander entrance befitting royalty but that would also serve to impress and intimidate visitors. Of the eighteen small gates originally set into the wall, only one led to the royal palace on the outskirts of Berlin and to the city of Brandenburg beyond. It was at this site that the monument known today as the Brandenburg Gate would be constructed.
Completed in by architect Carl Gotthard Langhans and sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow, Brandenburg Gate was a Neoclassical masterpiece that immediately became one of the most recognizable structure in Berlin. In , the city of Berlin was invaded by France. After eight years as a French satellite, Prussia rebelled against Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. The Prussian army was able to seize the quadriga and return it to its rightful place.
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