Kaiser Wilhelm I Monument (Nuremberg)
The Kaiser Wilhelm I monument in front of the Egidienkirche on Egidienplatz in Nuremberg was unveiled on November 14, 1905.
In an artist competition held in 1895, the design by the sculptor Syrius Eberle prevailed. After Eberle's death in 1903, the design was further elaborated by Wilhelm von Rümann . Finally, the equestrian statue of Ernst Lenz was cast in Nuremberg.
Mayor Otto Stromer von Reichenbach initiated this memorial . Financing came from a municipal art fund as well as from public donation collections and a large, earmarked donation from Ludwig Ritter von Gerngroß .
Historical background
The equestrian statue of Wilhelm I, the only one of its size in Bavaria , was definitely a political issue at the time. The homage to the Prussian Hohenzollern Emperor and founder of the Second German Empire through a larger than life equestrian statue in an exposed inner city location on the Egidienberg was also demonstratively demonstrative in the predominantly Protestant Nuremberg and its surrounding area, which was dominated by the Hohenzollern for centuries and was culturally shaped for centuries, and thus as a move towards the German Empire understood by the Kingdom of Bavaria , to which Nuremberg only fell to 1806 and was downgraded to a simple 'provincial town'. From 1871, in particular, Prussia was seen in large parts of Franconia as a 'cultural protective power' against the extensive appropriation in the centrally organized, predominantly Catholic Bavaria. This intention becomes particularly clear against the background that there is and was no monument to a Bavarian king in Nuremberg; only the Frankish-minded Prince Regent Luitpold was erected a considerably smaller monument outside the old town on the busy Bahnhofsplatz. The all-German feeling donors took into account the overwhelming self-image of the citizens of the former imperial and imperial city of Nuremberg and wanted to ideally tie in with the tradition of the imperial city in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, which fell in 1802, in the second empire .
More history / present
The memorial survived the end of the monarchy in 1918/1919 without individual demands for its removal being heard. During the Second World War it was saved from being melted down under unknown circumstances, which had already been ordered by the authorities. It survived the bombing of World War II in the middle of a desert of rubble, only the house-to-house war in April 1945 left some traces. The body of the horse shows several bullet holes that originate from fighting in 1945, in this respect the monument is also one of the few contemporary testimonies on which the traces of the war are still directly visible.
Due to the fact that Egidienplatz is now remote from traffic, the monument was not in the way of traffic planning in the post-war period and is still in its original condition from the year it was erected.
It was not until 2010 that the city administration (building department / city planning office) suggested removing or repositioning the monument as part of the redesign proposals for Egidienplatz. After sustained criticism from the population came up, the plan is currently no longer being pursued.
Individual evidence
- ^ Herbert Justin Erlanger: Nuremberg Medals 1806-1981 . Festschrift for the 100th anniversary of the Association for Münzkunde Nürnberg e. V. 1982. Part 1. Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg 1985, p. 271 .
- ↑ Nuremberg City Archives
- ↑ Kaiser Wilhelm I monument on nuernberg.bayern-online.de
- ↑ Visualization of Egidienplatz without Wilhelm I monument / results of a feasibility study for Egidienplatz and presentation of a contribution from the city planning office, presented to the city planning committee on April 15, 2010
Web links
Coordinates: 49 ° 27 '24.1 " N , 11 ° 4' 51.7" E