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The Cold War And The Brandenburg Gate
By CruiseDirector | February 14, 2010
The Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor) in Berlin is one of the primary landmarks that comes to mind when thinking of Germany. The Brandenburg Gate is the nationalized sign of the nation, and German history was made here – many different times. It has had a large influence in German’s history and continues to do so as millions visit every year just to see this amazing monument.
The Brandenburg Gate became well-known in the Cold War, when it was the poignant representation for the splitting up of Berlin and Germany: The Gate stood between East and West Germany, becoming part of the impenetrable Berlin Wall.
Commissioned by Friedrich Wilhelm, the Brandenburg Gate was designed by architect Carl Gotthard Langhans in 1791. It was the imposing entry to the avenue “Unter den Linden”, which led to the palace of the Prussian monarchs.
The 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 overcome at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt Napoleon took the Quadriga to Paris, France.
The design of the Brandenburg Gate was enthused by the Acropolis in Athens. The monument is crowned with the statue of the Quadriga, a four-horsed chariot driven by Victoria, the winged goddess of victory.
In the course of German history, the Brandenburg Gate contained many unique roles; it represents the country’s violent past and its peaceful achievements like no other monument in Germany.
In the Napoleonic Wars in 1806, after the French powers defeated the Prussian army, Napoleon’s troops took the sculpture of the Quadriga to Paris as a war award. The Prussian army reclaimed it in 1814 with their victory over their French counterparts.
More than a century later, the Nazis would use the Brandenburg Gate for their own measures . In 1933, they marched through the gate in a military torchlight procession, celebrating Hitler’s ascent to command and introducing the darkest chapter of German chronicle.
When the Nazis came to dominance they used the Gate as a party 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). The gate was dreadfully damaged with holes in the columns from bullets and nearby explosions. Following Germany’s surrender and the end of the war, the governments of East Berlin and West Berlin restored it in a combined effort. The holes were patched, and were evident for a lot of years following the war.
The Brandenburg Gate survived World War II with serious damages; in the Cold War, squeezed between East and West Germany, it became the site for ideological disputes. When John F. Kennedy visited the Brandenburg Gate in 1963, the Soviets hung huge red banners across the gate to prevent him from looking into the East.
After the peaceful reunification of Germany, the Brandenburg Gate was refurbished in 2000; today, it is one of the most visited sites in Germany and in Europe. As such millions go to Berlin just to see the famous monument within Germany. So why do you get out there and make experience the stunning attraction that will definitely leave you in amazement.
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