Bismarck Monument (Düsseldorf)

Bismarck monument in Düsseldorf

The Bismarck Monument in Düsseldorf - Stadtmitte is one of numerous Bismarck monuments that have been erected in the Kingdom of Prussia and the German Empire since 1868 .

history

The statue was created by the Düsseldorf sculptors August Bauer (1868–1961) and Johannes Röttger (1864–1943) and unveiled on May 10, 1899. Its original location was on Alleestraße, today's Heinrich-Heine-Allee , in front of the main facade of the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf . Today the memorial is on Martin-Luther-Platz, where it flanks the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial .

Bismarck memorial in front of the Alte Kunsthalle on Alleestrasse, around 1900

The bronze sculpture , which can be assigned to historicism and Wilhelminism , represents the Prussian Prime Minister and Reich Chancellor Otto von Bismarck . Bismarck stands in the simple interim skirt of the Halberstadt cuirassiers , with a spiked bonnet , portepee and riding boots, and an iron cross on his chest . The base is flanked by two allegorical figures seated on the base of the base . One figure shows an ancient warrior with a helmet. He holds a sword in his right hand and a bundle of oak sticks in his left arm , symbols of the warlike unification of the German “tribes” . The other figure, a woman who leans on a hammer and puts her foot on an anchor, personifies industry as a reference to the industrialization processes that took place during Bismarck's tenure, particularly in the Rhine and Ruhr regions . All figures are cast in bronze. The granite base showed the coats of arms of the most important federal states of the German Empire, the kingdoms of Bavaria , Prussia, Saxony and Württemberg . These heraldic shields were lost in World War II.

Architects and Engineers Association of Düsseldorf (ed.): Düsseldorf and its buildings. L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1904, p. 71, [Fig. 43].

Entry in the monument list of the state capital Düsseldorf at the Institute for Monument Protection and Preservation