Brandenburg Gate

The Brandenburg Gate

The Brandenburg Gate (German: Brandenburger Tor) is a former city gate and one of the main symbols of Berlin and Germany. It is located west of the city center at the intersection of Unter den Linden and Ebertstrasse, immediately west of the Pariser Platz. It is the only remaining gate of a series through which one formerly entered Berlin. One block to its north lies the Reichstag. The gate is the monumental entry to Unter den Linden, the renowned boulevard of linden trees which formerly led directly to the city palace of the Prussian monarchs. It was commissioned by King Frederick William II of Prussia as a sign of peace and built by Carl Gotthard Langhans from 1788 to 1791. The Brandenburg Gate was restored from 2000 to 2002 by the Stiftung Denkmalschutz Berlin (Berlin Monument Conservation Foundation). Today, it is considered one of Europe's most famous landmarks.

Brandenburg Gate, May 2008

Contents

Design and history

The Brandenburg Gate consists of twelve Doric columns, six to each side, forming five passageways. Citizens originally were allowed to use only the outermost two. On top of the gate is the Quadriga, the chariot drawn by four horses driven by Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory.

The Gate's design is based upon the Propylaea, the gateway to the Acropolis in Athens, Greece and is consistent with Berlin's history of architectural classicism (first, Baroque, and then neo-Palladian). The Gate was the first "Athens on the River Spree" by architect Karl Gotthard von Langhans. The capital Quadriga was sculpted by Johann Gottfried Schadow.

Napoleon in Berlin.

The Brandenburg Gate's design has remained essentially unchanged since its completion even as it has played different political roles in German history. After the 1806 Prussian defeat at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, Napoleon took the Quadriga to Paris. After Napoleon's defeat in 1814 and the Prussian occupation of Paris by General Ernst von Pfuel, the Quadriga was restored to Berlin and Viktoria's wreath of oak leaves was supplemented with a new symbol of Prussian power, the Iron Cross. The Quadriga faces east, as it did when it was originally installed in 1793.

When the Nazis ascended to power they used the Gate as their symbol. 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). Following Germany's surrender and the end of the second world war, the governments of East Berlin and West Berlin restored it in a joint effort. Vehicles and pedestrians could again travel freely through the gate, until August 1961 when the Berlin Wall was erected. The wall and its fortified death strip ran just west of the gate, cutting off access from West Berlin and the "baby Wall" on the Eastern side rendered it off limits to East Berliners as well, until the wall's destruction in 1989.

On December 21, 2000, the Brandenburg Gate was privately refurbished at a 6 million dollar cost.

The Brandenburg Gate is now again closed for vehicle traffic, and much of Pariser Platz has been turned into a cobblestone pedestrian zone.

Political history at the gate

In 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy visited the Brandenburg Gate. The Soviets hung large red banners across it to prevent him looking into the East. In the 1980s, decrying the existence of two German states, West Berlin mayor Richard von Weizsäcker said: 'The German question will remain open as long as the Brandenburg Gate is closed' .[1]

On June 12, 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan spoke to the West Berlin populace at the Brandenburg Gate, demanding the razing of the Berlin Wall. Addressing CPSU General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, Reagan said,

“ General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! ”

When the Revolutions of 1989 occurred and the Berlin Wall collapsed, the Gate symbolized freedom and the desire to unify the City of Berlin. On December 22, 1989, the Brandenburg Gate re-opened when Helmut Kohl, the West German Chancellor, walked through to be greeted by Hans Modrow, the East German Prime Minister.

On July 12, 1994, U.S. President Bill Clinton spoke at the Gate about peace in post-Cold War Europe.

Location

Historical photographs

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.reaganlibrary.com/reagan/speeches/wall.asp

External links