Brandenburg Gate in Berlin
Description
The Brandenburg Gate is an 18th-century neoclassical triumphal arch in Berlin, and one of the best-known landmarks of Germany. It is built on the site of a former city gate that marked the start of the road from Berlin to the town of Brandenburg an der Havel.
It is located in the western part of the city centre of Berlin, at the junction of Unter den Linden and Ebertstraße, immediately west of the Pariser Platz. One block to the north stands the Reichstag building. 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. Having suffered considerable damage in World War II, the Brandenburg Gate was fully restored from 2000 to 2002 by the Stiftung Denkmalschutz Berlin (Berlin Monument Conservation Foundation).
During the post-war Partition of Germany, the gate was isolated and inaccessible immediately next to the Berlin Wall, and the area around the gate was featured most prominently in the media coverage of the opening of the wall in 1989.
Throughout its existence, the Brandenburg Gate was often a site for major historical events and is today considered a symbol of the tumultuous history of Europe and Germany, but also of European unity and peace.
History
Design and construction
In the time of Frederick William (1688), shortly after the Thirty Years' War and a century before the gate was constructed, Berlin was a small walled city within a star fort with several named gates: Spandauer Tor, St. Georgen Tor, Stralower Tor, Cöpenicker Tor, Neues Tor, and Leipziger Tor (see map). Relative peace, a policy of religious tolerance, and status as capital of the Kingdom of Prussia facilitated the growth of the city.
The Berlin Excise Wall with its 18 gatesThe Brandenburg Gate was not part of the old fortifications, but one of 18 gates within the Berlin Customs Wall (German: Akzisemauer), erected in the 1730s, including the old fortified city and many of its then suburbs.
The new gate was commissioned by Friedrich Wilhelm II to represent peace. The Gate was designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans, the Court Superintendent of Buildings, and built between 1788 and 1791, replacing the earlier simple guard houses siding the original gate in the Customs Wall. The gate consists of 12 Doric columns, six to each side, forming five passageways. Citizens originally were allowed to use only the outermost two on each side. Atop the gate is the Quadriga, a chariot drawn by four horses. The new gate was originally named the Peace Gate (German: Friedenstor) and the goddess is Eirene, the goddess of peace.
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 Carl Gotthard von Langhans. The capital Quadriga was sculpted by Johann Gottfried Schadow.
19th and early 20th centuries
The Brandenburg Gate has played different political roles in German history. After the 1806 Prussian defeat at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, Napoleon was the first to use the Brandenburg Gate for a triumphal procession, and took its 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. It was now redesigned by Karl Friedrich Schinkel for the new role of the Brandenburg Gate as a Prussian triumphal arch; the goddess, now definitely Victoria, was equipped with the Prussian eagle and Iron Cross on her lance with a wreath of oak leaves.
The Quadriga faces east, as it did when it was originally installed in 1793. Only the royal family was allowed to pass through the central archway, as well as members of the Pfuel family, from 1814 to 1919. In addition, the central archway was also used by the coaches of ambassadors on the single occasion of their presenting their letters of credence to council.
When the Nazis ascended to power, they used the gate as a party symbol. The gate survived World War II and was one of the damaged structures still standing in the Pariser Platz ruins in 1945 (another being the Academy of Fine Arts). The gate was badly damaged with holes in the columns from bullets and nearby explosions. One horse’s head from the original quadriga survived, today kept in the collection of the Märkisches Museum.
Cold War
Following Germany's surrender and the end of the war, the governments of East Berlin and West Berlin restored it in a joint effort. The holes were patched, but were visible for many years following the war.
Vehicles and pedestrians could travel freely through the gate, located in East Berlin, until the Berlin Wall was built, 13 August 1961. Then one of the eight Berlin Wall crossings was opened on the eastern side of the gate, usually not open for East Berliners and East Germans, who from then on needed a hard-to-obtain exit visa. On 14 August, West Berliners gathered on the western side of the gate to demonstrate against the Berlin Wall, among them West Berlin's governing Mayor Willy Brandt, who had spontaneously returned from a federal election campaigning tour in West Germany earlier on the same day.
Under the pretext that Western demonstrations required it, the East closed the checkpoint at the Brandenburg Gate the same day, 'until further notice', a situation that was to last until 22 December 1989. The wall was erected as an arc just west of the gate, cutting off access from West Berlin. On the eastern side, the "baby Wall", drawn across the eastern end of Pariser Platz rendered it off limits to East Berliners, as well. The section of wall in front of the gate was built shorter and wider to protect it from a potential Western invasion in the event of a war breaking out between the two superpowers.
Post-1989
When the Revolutions of 1989 occurred and the wall fell, the gate symbolized freedom and the desire to unify the city of Berlin. Thousands of people gathered at the wall to celebrate its fall on 9 November 1989. On 22 December 1989, the Brandenburg Gate border crossing was reopened when Helmut Kohl, the West German chancellor, walked through to be greeted by Hans Modrow, the East German prime minister. Demolition of the rest of the wall around the area took place the following year.
During 1990, the quadriga was removed from the gate as part of renovation work carried out by the East German authorities following the fall of the wall in November 1989. Germany was officially reunified in October 1990.
On 21 December 2000, the Brandenburg Gate was privately refurbished at a cost of six million euros.
On 3 October 2002, the 12th anniversary of German Reunification, the Brandenburg Gate was once again opened following extensive refurbishment.
Brandenburg Gate became the main venue for the 20th-anniversary celebrations of the fall of the Berlin Wall or "Festival of Freedom" on the evening of 9 November 2009. The high point of the celebrations was when over 1000 colorfully designed foam domino tiles, each over 2.5 m tall, were lined up along the route of the former wall through the city centre. The domino "wall" was then toppled in stages converging here.
The Brandenburg Gate is now again closed to vehicle traffic, and much of Pariser Platz has been turned into a cobblestone pedestrian zone. The gate, along with the broad Straße des 17. Juni avenue to the west, is also one of the large public areas in Berlin where over a million people can gather to watch stage shows or party together, watch major sport events shown on huge screens, or see fireworks at midnight on New Year's Eve. After winning the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the Germany national football team held their victory rally in front of the gate.
The Brandenburg Gate at night in panorama The Brandenburg Gate in early morning light The Brandenburg Gate at midnightPhoto gallery
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Napoleon passing through the Brandenburg Gate after the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt (1806). Painted by Charles Meynier in 1810.
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The Gate in 1928
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In 1984, East Berliners and others were kept away from the Gate, which they could view only from this distance.
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The Berlin Wall in front of the Brandenburg Gate, shortly before its fall in 1989
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Gate with Pariser Platz
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The Brandenburg Gate as seen from the rooftop terrace of the Reichstag building, with the United States Embassy in the background
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Brandenburg Gate in 2003
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At night
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Gate during Festival of Lights
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In 2012
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The Quadriga with skyscrapers of Potsdamer Platz
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Brandenburg gate, early in the morning, in May 2015
Street view
Reviews
The hotel next to the gate is also well worth a look as it's a very high security building used by royalty, presidents and other leaders and stars from around the world. It's also the site of Michael Jackson's famous "baby-dangling" incident.
On the other side of the gate are the markers showing where the wall was and some great views of other Berlin landmarks.
The Brandenburg Gate is the city gates that lead into the Unter den Linden, a boulevard with Linden trees that is Berlin’s key boulevard. Constructed by King Frederick William II, this gate has throughout its history been the focal point of major events in European history. Napoleon rode through these gates after defeating the Prussians, the Nazis used it to frame to ascension to power and was a key entry point of a Wall that closed off East Berlin from the West. The gate has seen its share of powerful moments, like Kennedy’s "Ich bin ein Berliner” and Reagan’s challenge to Gorbachev to “tear down this wall”. And when the wall final came tumbling down, the image of the gate shining an unhindred path to Unter den Linden was a powerful image that captured the tipping point of the Cold War.
A chariot drawn by four horses sit on top of the Brandenburg Gate. This sculpture was later taken to Paris by Napoleon. My guide told me that the gate was initially conceived as a peace gate to mark the relative peace following the 30 Year War, but instead, the gate had only seen war and destruction. After its return from Paris, and iron cross was added and it become a symbol of Prussia’s military victory, eventually becoming the national symbol of victory.
Right next to gate on Pariser Platz is the meeting point of plenty of walking tours, so take your pick from those holding up brochures and umbrellas.
Sure it has a lot tourists from all around the world who taking pictures of this famous monument. There and on other important places are artist/costumed actors located who taking for a few euros pictures with the tourists.
Walk through the "Tor", direction to Berliner Dom via "Unter den Linden". On both street sides you can see that style of the building where the high Society in the past century lived and/or stayed over night (and still do!) in the famous first class Hotel ADLON.
But beware: the way to walk from the "Tor" to the "Berliner Dom" can be a little bit long. But on both sides are Cafés/Restaurants located.
FaZIT: a must to see location
There are some events taking place there from time to time, so it may get crowded.
There is a very fancy hotel nearby so the area of the gate might be closed.
