Kaiser Wilhelm Monument (Düsseldorf)
The Kaiser Wilhelm monument in Düsseldorf is one of numerous Kaiser Wilhelm monuments that were erected during the German Empire and glorifies Wilhelm I as the founder of the German Empire and as the victor over the Second Empire .
The equestrian statue is in the Stadtmitte district on the central axis of Martin-Luther-Platz between the Johanneskirche and the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of Justice . It was originally located in a different place, on Alleestraße (today Heinrich-Heine-Allee ) in the area of the intersection with Bolkerstraße and Elberfelder Straße. The equestrian statue, inaugurated on October 18, 1896, was created by the sculptor Karl Janssen , professor at the Düsseldorf Art Academy . In terms of art history, the monument belongs to historicism , more precisely to the neo-baroque . It has a model in the Kaiser Wilhelm National Monument in Berlin .
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial on Martin Luther Square is flanked by the Bismarck Memorial and the rest of the Moltke Memorial . The honored contemporaries of Wilhelm were considered his " paladins ". The new monument location on Martin-Luther-Platz, which is axially aligned with the main portal of the Johanneskirche , the large Protestant city church in Düsseldorf, expresses that Wilhelm I, as King of Prussia, is the "summus episcopus" of the United Churches ( Church of the Old Prussian Union ) and thus had a special meaning for the evangelical Protestants of Düsseldorf.
description
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The sculpture shows Kaiser Wilhelm I as a general , dressed in a general's uniform with a coat and pleated helmet, riding on a horse. He is accompanied by the geniuses of war and peace . The three figures are cast in bronze . They stand on a granite base . The base is decorated on the front and back with cartouches, coats of arms and emblems made of bronze. These symbolize the German Empire , the Kingdom of Prussia and the city of Düsseldorf. Two bas-reliefs with allegorical depictions of events in the history of the Kingdom of Prussia and Wilhelm I adorn the base: A bas-relief shows the fall of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation ; a war fury , which symbolizes the Napoleonic Wars , strides with a scourge and a burning torch over Germania lying on the ground . In the background is the flight of Queen Luise and her children in 1806, a childhood experience of Wilhelm I. The other bas-relief shows Borussia , which received the crown from the federal states when the empire was founded, an indication of the acceptance of the imperial dignity by Wilhelm I. in 1871. On the narrow side of the monument base, which is aligned with the tower of St. John's Church, a bronze imperial eagle rises above the flags of the Second Empire . The opposite narrow side shows, under a garland and two bronze putti, a bronze shield with the Fraktur inscription Düsseldorf, thankful to the founder of the German Empire.
literature
- Architects and Engineers Association of Düsseldorf (ed.): Düsseldorf and its buildings. L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1904, p. 70, fig. 42 [statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I.]
- Friedrich Schaarschmidt : On the history of Düsseldorf art - especially in the XIX. Century. Verlag des Kunstverein for the Rhineland and Westphalia, Düsseldorf 1902, p. 382; Text archive - Internet Archive
Web links
- Entry in the monument list of the state capital Düsseldorf at the Institute for Monument Protection and Preservation
- Robin Whited: The Kaiser Wilhelm Monument in Düsseldorf . Technical work in the additional history course at the Heinrich Heine Comprehensive School; Düsseldorf 2004
- Stephan Kotthaus: Karl Janssen 1885–1927. Sculptor and art professor in Düsseldorf. Monument to Kaiser Wilhelm I, various views . Documentation (of the artist's “great-great-great-nephew”) 2008
Coordinates: 51 ° 13 ′ 26.8 ″ N , 6 ° 46 ′ 54.5 ″ E