Brandenburg Gate

The Brandenburg Gate is the only remaining town gate in Berlin, Germany. It was built between 1788 and 1791.

Location

The Brandenburg Gate is located between the Platz des 18. März and the Pariser Platz. To the north is the Reichstag building. During the Cold War, the Reichstag was located in West Berlin, while the Brandenburger Tor in East Berlin.

Structure

The Brandenburg Gate has twelve columns: six on the entrance side and six on the exit. The columns form five roadways. Citizens were originally allowed to use only the outer two, while the central roadway was reserved for royal officials. Admiralty Arch in London is similar.

The Quadriga

In 1793, Johann Gottfried Schadow placed a bronze sculpture called the Quadriga on top of the gate. It depicts Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory, carrying a peace symbol and driving a horse-drawn chariot (called a quadriga). The sculpture was meant to symbolize peace entering the city.

History

Napoleon's era

In 1806, during the First French Empire, Napoleon's army defeated Prussia at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt. After the victory, Napoleon stole the Quadriga and took it to Paris. When Prussian forces defeated Napoleon in 1814, Prussian General Ernst von Pfuel occupied Paris and took the Quadriga back to Berlin. The sculpture's olive wreath was changed to an Iron Cross, and the Goddess Viktoria became Nike, the goddess of victory.

World War II

When the Nazis came to power, they used the Brandenburg Gate as a symbol. They included the symbol in a lot of their propaganda. Allied bombings targeted the Brandenburg Gate because it was a highly visible and important symbol of Nazi power. It was badly damaged, but not destroyed.  After the war, it was restored by the governments of East Berlin and West Berlin.

Berlin Wall

When the Berlin Wall was built in 1961, the Brandenburg Gate was closed because it was in the middle of the death strip. In 1963, when U.S. President John F. Kennedy visited it, the Soviets hung large banners across the gate to prevent him from seeing into East Germany. In the 1980s West Berlin mayor Richard von Weizsäcker said:

 In 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan gave his famous speech "Tear down this wall!" outside of the gate.

Fall of Berlin Wall

In 1989, the Berlin Wall was torn down. West and East Germany were reunified the following year under President Richard von Weizsäcker. On the 22nd of December 1989, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl walked to the Brandenburg Gate to be greeted by East German Prime Minister Hans Modrow, officially reopening the gate and the pathway between East and West Germany. After that, the Brandenburg Gate symbolized the freedom to unite the City of Berlin. 

Post-Cold War

Between 2000 and 2002, the Brandenburg Gate was privately refurbished.

Gallery

Footnotes

References

Category:Gates
Category:Landmarks in Germany
Category:Buildings and structures in Berlin
Category:Monuments and memorials in Germany
Category:18th-century buildings and structures