Berlin’s Most Famous Landmark
The Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor) in Berlin is one of the foremost monuments that comes to mind when thinking of Germany. The Brandenburg Gate is the national symbol of the country, and German past was made here – many different times. It has had a large influence in German’s history and continues to do so as millions visit every year just to see this amazing monument.
The Brandenburg Gate became notorious in the Cold War, when it was the sad image for the split of Berlin and Germany: The Gate stood between East and West Germany, becoming part of the impenetrable Berlin Wall.
Commissioned by Friedrich Wilhelm, the Brandenburg Gate was planned by architect Carl Gotthard Langhans in 1791. It was the grand entry to the avenue “Unter den Linden”, which led to the palace of the Prussian monarchs.
The Gate’s design has remained essentially unchanged since its conclusion even as it has had different political parts in German history. After the 1806 Prussian overthrow at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt Napoleon took the Quadriga to Paris, France.
The design of the Brandenburg Gate was enthused by the Acropolis in Athens. The landmark is crowned with the sculpture of the Quadriga, a four-horsed chariot driven by Victoria, the winged goddess of victory.
In the line of German history, the Brandenburg Gate played a lot of different parts; it represents the country’s restless history and its peaceful achievements like no other attraction in Germany.
In the Napoleonic Wars in 1806, after the French powers defeated the Prussian army, Napoleon’s troops grabbed the statue of the Quadriga to Paris as a war trophy. The Prussian army reclaimed it in 1814 with their victory over their French counterparts.
More than a century later, the Nazis would use the Brandenburg Gate for their own conquests . In 1933, they marched through the gate in a martial torchlight procession, celebrating Hitler’s mount to supremacy and introducing the darkest stage of German history.
When the Nazis ascended to supremacy they used the Gate as a party emblem. The Gate survived World War II and was one of the few structures remaining in the Pariser Platz ruins in 1945 (another being the Academy of Fine Arts). The gate was terribly damaged with holes in the columns from bullets and nearby explosions. Following Germany’s submission and the end of the war, the governments of East Berlin and West Berlin restored it in a mutual effort. The holes were patched, and were visible for lots of years following the war.
The Brandenburg Gate survived World War II with serious damages; in the Cold War, squeezed between East and West Germany, it became the site for ideological disputes. When John F. Kennedy visited the Brandenburg Gate in 1963, the Soviets hung huge red banners across the gate to prevent him from looking into the East.
After the peaceful reunification of Germany, the Brandenburg Gate was refurbished in 2000; today, it is one of the most visited sites in Germany and in Europe. As such millions go to Berlin just to see the famous monument within Germany. So why do you get out there and make experience the stunning attraction that will definitely leave you in amazement.
