The Pride Of Germany
By Advisor. Filed in Florida |
The Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor) in Berlin is one of the foremost landmarks that comes to mind when thinking of Germany. The Brandenburg Gate is the nationwide symbol of the land, and German history was made here – many different times. It has had a large influence in German’s history and continues to do so as millions visit each year just to see this breathtaking monument.
The Brandenburg Gate became recognized in the Cold War, when it was the gloomy image for the splitting up 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 designed by architect Carl Gotthard Langhans in 1791. It was the splendid entry to the avenue “Unter den Linden”, which led to the palace of the Prussian monarchs.
The Gate’s design has remained fundamentally unaffected since its conclusion even as it has played different political parts in German history. After the 1806 Prussian overcome at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt Napoleon took the Quadriga to Paris, France.
The design of the Brandenburg Gate was inspired by the Acropolis in Athens. The monument is crowned with the sculpture of the Quadriga, a four-horsed chariot driven by Victoria, the winged goddess of victory.
In the path of German history, the Brandenburg Gate had lots of different parts; it represents the country’s turbulent history and its passive accomplishments like no other monument in Germany.
In the Napoleonic Wars in 1806, after the French powers overpowered the Prussian army, Napoleon’s troops took the sculpture of the Quadriga to Paris as a war award. 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 measures . In 1933, they marched through the gate in a military torchlight procession, celebrating Hitler’s rise to rule and introducing the horrifying stage of German history.
When the Nazis came to authority they used the Gate as a party emblem. The Gate survived World War II and was one of the few structures standing 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 hand over 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 evident 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 big 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; this day, 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’ll definitely leave you in amazement.
