Walhalla temple

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View of Walhalla from the Danube River.

View of the Walhalla main hall.

The Walhalla Hall of Fame and Honor is a neo-classical hall of fame located on the Danube River 10 km east of Regensburg, in Bavaria, Germany.

It was the idea of 20-year-old Crown Prince Ludwig I of Bavaria in 1807, at a time when the German states were defeated and occupied by Napoleon. It was meant as a place for the commemoration of great figures and events in ethnic German history, at the time covering 1,800 years, beginning with the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9 AD).

Whereas the Valhalla of Norse mythology was home to those gloriously slain in battle, Ludwig's Walhalla was intended not only for warriors but also for scientists, writers, clerics and specifically also for women.

Decades before the German Empire was founded in 1871, "German" was understood as "Germanic," since Gothic, Langobardic, Anglo-Saxon, Dutch and Swiss German figures were included, as well as persons who had gained fame mainly in other countries or for non-German governments.

By the time of King Ludwig I's coronation in 1825, 60 busts had already been completed. In 1826, he commissioned a temple above the Danube near Regensburg, modeled after the Parthenon in Athens. The northern frieze features personifications of German states; the southern a battle scene.^{[citation needed]}

On the Walhalla's inauguration on October 18, 1842, there were 96 busts, plus 64 plaques for persons or events of which no portrait was available on which to model a sculpture. As being "of the German tongue" was the main selection criterion for the original 160 persons representing the 1,800 years, the King included persons from modern-day Sweden, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland and the Baltic States.

As successor to the King, the government of Bavaria decides on additions. Proposals may be made by anyone, but only persons who have been dead at least 20 years are eligible. Only 31 busts have been added since, on an irregular basis, for a total of 191, twelve of them female.

The most recent additions were:

The bust of Sophie Scholl was inaugurated on February 22, 2003, the 60th anniversary of her execution. It is also intended as a representative of all the members of the Widerstand (the German Resistance against Nazi Germany), who have been honored with an additional plaque.

Future inductees approved in 2006 were:

2008 Edith Stein
2009 Heinrich Heine [2]

Ludwig I. Bust at the Ruhmeshalle, Munich.

In Munich, an additional Hall of Fame for Bavarians was established in 1853 — the Ruhmeshalle München. Nine of the Bavarian enshrinees having since been made Walhalla enshrinees, although their Ruhmeshalle busts which were destroyed in 1944, during World War II, have not been recreated. Instead, a plaque with their names tells of their transfer to Walhalla. Additionally, King Ludwig I, who also commissioned the Befreiungshalle and other monuments, is enshrined both at Walhalla and the Ruhmeshalle.

[edit] Busts

Ludwig van Beethoven,
Tondichter ("sound poet").

Walhalla colonnade.

Wilhelm Graf zu Schaumburg-Lippe.

The rows of busts are placed chronologically, beginning with Henry the Fowler (born 876 AD).

Konrad Adenauer – first Chancellor of West Germany
Amalie Elisabeth – Countess of Hesse-Kassel during the Thirty Years' War
August II the Strong – Elector of Saxony and King of Poland
Johann Sebastian Bach – composer
Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly – Russian Field Marshal
Ludwig van Beethoven – composer
Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar – general in the Thirty Years' War
Otto von Bismarck – Chancellor of North German Confederation and then of the German Empire
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher – Prussian Generalfeldmarschall
Herman Boerhaave – Dutch humanist and physician
Johannes Brahms - Composer
Anton Bruckner – Austrian composer
Gottfried August Bürger – poet
Christoph, Duke of Württemberg – Duke of Württemberg
Johann von Dalberg – Bishop of Worms
Hans Karl von Diebitsch – Russian field marshal, born in Silesia
Albrecht Dürer – printmaker and painter
Anthony van Dyck – Flemish painter and etcher
Eberhard I. of Württemberg – Duke of Württemberg
Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn – Bishop of Würzburg
Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff – poet
Albert Einstein – physicist
Erasmus of Rotterdam – Dutch humanist
Ernst I – Duke of Saxe-Gotha and Saxe-Altenburg during the Thirty Years' War
Jan van Eyck – Flemish painter
Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg – Prussian Generalfeldmarschall
Frederick I, Elector Palatine – the Victorious, Elector of Palatinate
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor - Barbarossa
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor – Stupor mundi
Frederick II of Prussia – Frederick the Great
Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg – the Great Elector
Georg von Frundsberg – Knight and leader of Landsknechts
Jakob Fugger – the Rich, merchant in Augsburg
Johannes Gutenberg – inventor of movable type
Karolina Gerhardinger – founder of the School Sisters of Notre Dame
Ernst Gideon Freiherr von Laudon – Austrian field marshal from Livonia
Christoph Willibald Gluck – composer
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – poet and polymath
Johann Joseph von Görres – writer
Hugo Grotius – Dutch jurist
Otto von Guericke – German scientist and inventor
Albrecht von Haller – Swiss anatomist and physiologist
Hans von Hallwyl – Swiss commander at the Battle of Morat
Georg Friedrich Händel – German baroque composer
Joseph Haydn – Austrian composer from the classical period
Henry the Lion – Duke of Saxony and Bavaria
Henry the Fowler – Duke of Saxony and King of the Germans
Johann Jakob Wilhelm Heinse - German author
Berthold von Henneberg – Elector and Archbishop of Mainz
Johann Gottfried Herder – German poet, critic, and theologian
Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel – German astronomer and composer
Hans Holbein the Younger – German painter
Ulrich von Hutten – German knight and Humanist
Friedrich Ludwig Jahn – German patriot and father of gymnastics
Immanuel Kant – German philosopher
Archduke Charles of Austria – Austrian military commander
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V, Duke of Lorraine
Charles X Gustav of Sweden – King of Sweden
Catherine II of Russia, Catherine the Great – Tsarina of Russia
Johannes Kepler – German mathematician and astronomer
Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock – German poet
Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor
Nicolaus Copernicus – Polish/German astronomer
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz – German philosopher and mathematician
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing – German poet from the age of enlightenment
Justus Freiherr von Liebig – German chemist
Paris Graf von Lodron – Archbishop of Salzburg
Ludwig Wilhelm von Baden - Türkenlouis, Imperial commander
Ludwig I – King of Bavaria
Martin Luther – Leader of the Protestant reformation, translator of the bible into German
Maria Theresia – Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I. – Prince-elector of Bavaria
Hans Memling – Flemish painter
Gregor Joh. Mendel – Czech Augustinian monk and naturalist
Raphael Mengs – Painter
Graf Helmuth von Moltke – German jurist and resistance fighter against the Nazis
Maurice of Orange – Dutch captain-general of the army of the Dutch Republic
Maurice of Saxony – German commander and military strategist
Justus Möser – German historian
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Austrian composer
Johannes Müller (Regiomontanus) – German astronomer and mathematician
Johannes von Müller – Swiss historian
Burkhard Christoph Graf von Münnich – German field marshall in Russian service
August Graf Neidhardt von Gneisenau – Prussian field marshall
Nicholas of Flue – Swiss hermit, ascetic and mystic
Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor
Theophrast von Hohenheim Paracelsus – 17th century Swiss physician and alchemist
Jean Paul – German humorist
Max von Pettenkofer – German chemist and hygienist
Wolter von Plettenberg – German Master of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword
Josef Wenzel Graf Radetzky von Radetz – Austrian military leader
Max Reger – German composer and organist of the late romantic period
Johannes von Reuchlin – German philosopher and humanist
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen – German physicist
Peter Paul Rubens – Flemish painter
Rudolf I of Habsburg – German king
Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter – Dutch admiral
Gerhard von Scharnhorst – Prussian general
Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling – German philosopher
Friedrich von Schiller - German poet and exponent of Sturm und Drang
Sophie Scholl - German resistance fighter against the Nazi regime
Johann Philipp von Schönborn – Archbishop and Prince-elector of Mainz
Franz Peter Schubert – Austrian Romantic composer
Karl Philipp Fürst zu Schwarzenberg – Austrian field marshall.
Franz von Sickingen – leader of the knighthood in Rhineland and Swabia.
Frans Snyders - Flemish painter.
Karl vom und zum Stein – Prussian politician.
Erwin von Steinbach – German architect of the Straßburger Münster.
Adalbert Stifter – Austrian author.
Richard Strauss – German composer.
Johannes Aventinus (Johann Georg Turmair) – Bavarian scholar and historian.
Maximilian von und zu Trauttmansdorff – Austrian diplomat that negotiated the Peace of Westphalia.
Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp – Dutch admiral.
Aegidius Tschudi – Swiss composser
Peter Vischer the elder – German Sculptor.
Richard Wagner – German composer of operas.
Albrecht von Wallenstein – Duke and General in the Thirty Years' War.
Carl Maria von Weber – German composer.
Christoph Martin Wieland – German Poet.
Wilhelm Graf zu Schaumburg-Lippe – Commander of his army in the Seven Years' War and for Portugal.
Wilhelm I. – German Emperor.
William I of Orange – Dutch leader of the Eighty Years' War for the Dutch independence from Spain.
Wilhelm III. of Orange – Dutch Stadtholder and king of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
Johann Joachim Winckelmann – German archeologist and art writer.
Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf – German religious and social reformer, bishop of the Moravian Church.

[edit] Commemorative plaques

Plaques were made for persons (or acts) of which no portraits or descriptions were available to model sculptures after. The timeline spans from Hermann der Cherusker (born 17 BC) to watchmaker Peter Henlein, who died in 1542, but a plaque also commemorates known and unknown German Resistance fighters against Nazi Germany through 1945.