| The Brandenburg Gate (German: Brandenburger Tor) is
a triumphal arch, the symbol of Berlin, Germany. Located on the Pariser Platz, it is the only remaining
one of the series of gates through which one entered Berlin. One block to its north lies the Reichstag, and one block to the south lies the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of
Europe. It constitutes the monumental termination of Unter den
Linden, the renowned boulevard of linden trees which led directly to the royal residence. It was commissioned by Friedrich Wilhelm II as a sign of peace and
built by Karl
Gotthard Langhans from 1788 to 1791.
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| Brandenburg Gate (June 2003) |
Brandenburg Gate at sunset (August 2003) |
Brandenburg Gate consists of twelve Greek Doric columns, six on each side.
This allows for five roadways, although originally ordinary citizens were only allowed to use the outer two. Above the gate is
the Quadriga, consisting of the goddess of peace, driving a four-horse chariot in triumph. The gate stands 26 m / 65 ft. high, 65.5 m / 213 ft. wide and 11 m / 36
ft. thick.
Design of the gate was based on the Propylea, the gateway to the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. In a city with a long tradition of classicism, a
classicist Baroque followed by neo-Palladian architecture, this was the first Greek revival neo-classical construction in Berlin,
which would become the Spreeathen ("Athens on the River Spree') by the 1830s, shaped by the severe neoclassicism of
architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel.
While the main design of the Brandenburg Gate has remained the same since it was completed, the gate has played varying roles
in Germany's history. First, Napoleon took the Quadriga back to Paris in 1806 after conquering Berlin. When it returned to
Berlin in 1814, the statue exchanged her olive wreath for the Iron Cross and became the goddess of
victory. When the Nazis rose to power, they used the gate to symbolize their power.
The only structure left standing in the ruins of Pariser Platz in 1945, apart from the ruined Academy of Fine Arts, the gate was
restored by the East Berlin and West Berlin Governments. However, in 1961, the gate was closed by the
Berlin Wall. "The German question will remain open as long as the Brandenburg
Gate is closed" was how the Mayor of West Berlin, Richard
von Weizsäcker, described the situation in the early 1980s.
Finally, when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the gate symbolized freedom and the unity of
the city, re-opening on 22 December when the West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl walked through to be greeted by the East German Prime Minister, Hans Modrow.
See also: Brandenburg
External links
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