User:OberMegaTrans/ss2022/Siegessäule

The Victory Column on the Großer Stern central square in Tiergarten is one of the most important tourist attractions in Berlin and one of the most significant national monuments in Germany. Built between 1864 and 1873 by Heinrich Strack at the Königsplatz to commemorate the Wars of Unification, it was moved to its present location from 1938 to 1939 along with the monuments to Bismarck, Roon and Moltke. The crowning Victoria by Friedrich Drake is popularly called "Goldelse" in Berlin.

Rationale

In 1864, after the Second Schleswig War, the Prussian King William I initiated the erection of monuments on the battlefields as well as in Berlin. He commissioned the court architect Heinrich Strack to carry out all the projects. Funds amounting to 330,000 thalers were approved for this in 1867. For the Düppel Monument and Arnkiel Monument, 38,652 and 33,300 thalers, respectively, had accrued after about two years of construction. This left only 258,000 thalers for the Victory Column in Berlin.

Within a few years, two more wars were won and added to the columns, the Austro-Prussian War in 1866 and the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-1871. The three segments of the Victory Column and the crowning bronze sculpture of Victoria were intended to commemorate the victories. The monument was 60.5 meters high. The Victory Column was inaugurated to celebrate the Day of Sedan on September 2, 1873, the third anniversary of the victorious Battle of Sedan.

Description

The Victory Column stands on the Großer Stern central square and can be reached via the eastern and western T-formed pedestrian tunnels which are located under the roadway. Four neoclassicist gatehouses, on the northern and southern side of the Straße des 17. Juni, form the entrance to those tunnels. The blueprints for those were made by Johannes Huntemüller.

The Victory Column consists of a base covered with polished red granite and four column drums of Obernkirchen Sandstein tapering towards the top. In its fluting, the lower three drums bear 60 gilded cannon barrels captured in the three wars. The shaft of the columns above the columned hall was raised by a fourth column drum during the relocation of the monument in 1938–1939. The monument was moved 1.6 kilometers westward from Königsplatz to its current location, the Großer Stern. The gun barrels were each moved down one column drum, with the now free fluting of the uppermost column drum receiving gilded laurel festoons.

Inside, a spiral staircase with 285 steps leads to the 50.66 meter high viewing platform. From there one has a good view of the Großer Tiergarten, Potsdamer Platz, the Brandenburg Gate and the surrounding urban area. The total height of the Victory Column including the statue is 67 meters. The green area around the Victory Column is 34 meters above sea level.

There is a circular columned hall on the base with a glass mosaic on its back wall. The Venetian company Antonio Salviati made the glass mosaic in 1876 based on a cartoon created by Anton von Werner. At the inauguration, only the cartoon had been attached. As desired by William I, the picture represents the Proclamation of the German Empire as a result of the victory over France.

Crowning Victoria

The column bears a bronze sculpture, created by Friedrich Drake, and taking on the form of the feminine figure of Victoria. In her right hand, she holds a laurel wreath aloft while in her left she carries a field sign of the Iron Cross. An eagle sits on top of her helmet. In Roman mythology she is known as the goddess of victory and corresponds to Nike in Greek mythology. Both are depicted with wings. Her eagle helmet equally alludes Victoria on the victory column to Borussia, the personification of Prussia.

Drake designed the figure according to the features of Victoria from Great Britain and Ireland, the crown princess of Prussia at that time. The bronze figure, which is 8.32 metres tall and weighs 35 tons, was sculpted by Berlin sculptor Hermann Gladenbeck. It was restored in 1954 and newly gilded by the art foundry Hermann Noack in Friedenau. It was restored again in 1989 and 2011.

Where it was first located, on Königsplatz, the Victoria looked south towards Siegesallee. It has since looked west towards Ernst-Reuter-Platz after its relocation in 1939. It was named "Goldelse" because of its gilding and the novel "Goldelse" by E. Marlitt, which was then published in the the magazine 'Die Gartenlaube' as a popular serial issue in 1866.

The reliefs on the pedestal

The pedestal of the Victory column is decorated with four bronze reliefs depicting different war-scenes. Three of them show the three Wars of Unification whereas the fourth relief depicts the victorious entry of the troops into Berlin in 1871.

To describe the individual reliefs in more detail:

1. Danish campaign and the storming of the “Düppeler Schanzen”, by sculptor Alexander Calandrelli

2. The Battle of Königgrätz and other incidents of the Austro-Prussian War, by sculptor Moritz Schulz

3. Franco-Prussian war, the battle of Sedan and the entry into Paris, by sculptor Karl Keil

4. Entry of troops into Berlin, by sculptor Albert Wolff

Above the fourth relief used to be a written dedication saying “Das dankbare Vaterland dem siegreichen Heere” (≈ The grateful fatherland to the victorious army). This dedication was removed after World War II, but its traces can still be seen today.

In 1945, the reliefs were removed by the French occupation forces. While the relief about the Austro-Prussian War was stored in the Spandau Citadel, the three other reliefs were considered lost. Research done by the German Federal Foreign Office, revealed the reliefs had been stored in the Musee de l'Armée in Paris. When asked for the return of the reliefs, France proposed a barter. They demanded the painting Napoleon Crossing the Alps in exchhange for the reliefs. This request was denied by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. After the reliefs were returned to Germany by the former French president Francois Mitterrand, all four of them were restored and reattached to the pedestal in 1987. The reliefs on the southern and the western side of the pedestal remain only in fragments.

The relief “Auszug zum dänischen Feldzug und Sturm auf die Düppeler Schanzen“ (Battle of Dybbøl) by Calandrelli on the Westside pedestal correlates to the Second Schleswig War in 1864. Some of the figures on the relief depict historical figures: partial view 1: group on the upper right hand side: Ferdinand Heinrich August Knerk (state official), Johann Heinrich Strack (architect), Heinrich Ludwig Alexander Herrmann (technical management) – they were responsible for the construction of the victory column. To their right side the preacher Wilhelm Hoffmann. Partial view 3, in the centre : the major general Eduard von Raven, who died as a result of his woundsin the Battle of Dybbøl. Partial view 4, at the lower left: the pioneer-lieutenant Lommatzsch, who died as the flag-bearer in the attack.