July 2, 2017 Comments Off on Historic photos of Brandenburg Gate, the signature landmark of Germany Views: 3481 Berlin, Virtual Memoirs

Standing 28 meters tall and 65.5 meters wide, the Brandenburg Gate is an 18th-century neoclassical monument in Berlin, that without a doubt makes the most famous landmark of Germany.

Constructed on the orders of the Prussian King Frederick William II, the landmark was 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.

The architect who had it built, Carl Gotthard Langhans was inspired by the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. The figure you can see driving the notable Quadriga atop the gate is Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory.

Throughout history, the Brandenburg Gate has come to be a place for major events and is today regarded not only as a symbol of the turbulent German history but as a landmark that represents the European unity and peace, too.

Indeed, the popular gate has been through the brightest and darkest points of modern-day German history. It was here at the Brandenburg Gate that the Nazis had conducted their torchlit procession through the Gate, celebrating Hitler’s being sworn as chancellor on January 30th, 1933.

From 1946 until 1957, it will be the Soviet flag that was flown on the top of the Gate. However, the flag was ripped off during a peaceful demonstration in 1953, when protesters had hit the streets to express their revolt on the political and economic conditions in the German Democratic Republic – the socialist state functioned during the Cold War and composed the east part of Germany.

Despite undergoing severe damage during WWII, the Gate has withstood the test of time and it has become the most iconic sight in recent German history, especially as hundreds of thousands of people have celebrated the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9th, 1989, just before the Brandenburg Gate.

Since this point, the historic Gate has come to represent German unity and freedom, marking the end of the Cold War and the reunification of east and west Germany. The Gate was opened as a border crossing by West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in December 1989 as well as East German Premier Hans Modrow.

We also thought to remind you of these Then & Now Photos depicting the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire

Tags: Berlin, Germany, The Brandenburg Gate