National Monument for the Wars of Liberation

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National Monument for the Wars of Liberation

In memory of the soldiers of the Prussian army who fell in the Wars of Liberation from 1813 to 1815, King Friedrich Wilhelm III. from 1818 to 1821 erect the 18.83 meter high national monument for the wars of liberation on the Kreuzberg near Berlin . The neo-Gothic building is reminiscent of important battles; of victories, but also of defeats such as the battle of Großgörschen .

history

The planned Liberation Cathedral

The idea of ​​donating a memorial to the fallen originally came from the citizens of Berlin and was taken up by the monarch. Initially the plan was to build a Gothic cathedral in front of the Potsdamer Tor , but this was rejected for reasons of cost. On the highest point of the Tempelhofer Berg, Friedrich Wilhelm III. on September 19, 1818 the foundation stone of the national monument for the victories in the Wars of Liberation . The architect was Karl Friedrich Schinkel . The sculptures were made by Christian Daniel Rauch , Friedrich Tieck and Ludwig Wichmann . The casting was taken over by the Royal Prussian Iron Foundry , which had also made the Iron Crosses . It is a typical example of Fer de Berlin by the foundry Conrad Geiß . The inauguration of the monument took place on March 30, 1821, the anniversary of the storming of Montmartre . The Russian Tsar Alexander I also attended the ceremony. On the same occasion the hill was given its current name Kreuzberg.

The monument remained the highest point in Kreuzberg until the founding period in the 1870s. When other buildings wanted to overtake the monument in the course of the city expansion, this was prevented by the police. A client's lawsuit then leads to the “ Kreuzbergerkenntnis ”, a groundbreaking judgment by the Prussian Higher Administrative Court . Kaiser Wilhelm I had the almost 20-meter-high and 200-  tonne monument lifted hydraulically onto an eight-meter-high platform in 1878/1879 under the direction of the civil engineer and civil servant Johann Wilhelm Schwedler . This was done with twelve hydraulic presses, each with a water pressure of 30  atmospheres and a lifting force of 16 tons. Originally the monument was laid out in an exact north-south or west-east orientation. When it was raised, the monument was rotated by 21 ° so that it was now aligned exactly in one axis with Großbeerenstraße . The substructure was based on plans by Johann Heinrich Strack and now houses a bat colony and a lapidarium .

From 1888 the Viktoriapark was created at the foot of the monument with a 24-meter-high artificial waterfall, which is modeled on the Zackelfall in the Giant Mountains .

description

Plaque

The monument was designed in the form of a Gothic tabernacle and is crowned with an iron cross. On the twelve outer sides of the cross-like floor plan are twelve cast iron genii , each symbolizing a battle of the Wars of Liberation and portraying Prussian military leaders and members of the royal family. The four most prominent outwardly are Groß-Görschen May 2, 1813, Leipzig October 18, 1813, Paris March 30, 1814 and Belle Alliance June 18, 1815 ( Battle of Waterloo ). The following battles are remembered in the corner niches: Battle of Wartenburg , Battle of Kulm , Battle of La Rothière , Battle of Laon , Battle of Bar-sur-Aube , Battle of Großbeeren , Battle of Dennewitz , Battle of the Katzbach . The dedication under the plaque "Groß-Görschen" was written by the classical philologist August Boeckh on behalf of the king :

Dedication inscription

“The king to the people who
generously offered
good and blood to the fatherland at his call .
The fallen for memory,
the living for recognition,
the future generations to emulate. "

description image statue Designed by Modeled by Facial resemblance
Leipzig ,
October 18, 1813 		National Monument to the Wars of Liberation (18) .JPG
center 		Genius in ancient Greek armor , crowned with a crown of rays, his hands rest on a shield with the coats of arms of the three allies Prussia, Austria and Russia smoke Wichmann Wilhelm of Prussia , brother of the king
Battle of Dennewitz ,
September 6, 1813 		National Monument to the Wars of Liberation (14) .JPG
Right 		Genius in the armor of a Landwehr soldier, holding a sword in his left hand in front of his chest; in his right instead of over his head a laurel wreath smoke Wichmann Friedrich Wilhelm Bülow von Dennewitz
Battle of Kulm ,
August 30, 1813 		National Monument to the Wars of Liberation (14) .JPG
Left 		Genius in the form of Hercules , wearing the skin of the Nemean lion , leaning with his left hand on a club resting on the head of the Cretan bull , with a view of the laurel wreath Triangle Wichmann King Friedrich Wilhelm III.
Groß-Görschen ,
May 2, 1813 		National Monument to the Wars of Liberation (15) .JPG Genius in ancient Greek armor with a sword and a laurel wreath Triangle Wichmann unknown, or Leopold von Hessen-Homburg , because he died in the battle, possibly also Wilhelm von Prussia
Battle of the Katzbach ,
August 26, 1813 		National Monument to the Wars of Liberation (1) .JPG
Right 		Genius in ancient Greek armor with a laurel wreath in hand Wichmann Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher as a young man
Battle of Großbeeren ,
August 23, 1813 		Berlin, Kreuzberg, Viktoriapark, national monument, detail, Battle of Grossbeeren, Jugendlicher Genius.jpg
 Adolescent genius in armor of the Landsturm , with the Berlin coat of arms on his chest armor, his lance rammed into the ground with sprouts from bay leaves Triangle Friedrich Wilhelm IV. , Son of the king
Battle of Belle Alliance ,
June 18, 1815 		National Monument to the Wars of Liberation (16) .JPG Genia in a tunic , symbolizes the peace of Paris ; as the fruit of this last battle it shows an olive branch smoke Charlotte of Prussia , daughter of Friedrich Wilhelm III., Wife of Grand Duke Nikolaus Pawlowitsch
Battle of Laon ,
March 9, 1814 		National Monument to the Wars of Liberation (11) .JPG
Right 		Genius in old German armor and cloak, stabbing a dragon's head under his feet Triangle Wilhelm of Prussia , brother of the king
Battle of Bar-sur-Aube ,
February 27, 1814 		National Monument to the Wars of Liberation (4) .JPG
center 		Young genius in ancient Greek armor with a lance and shield with the Prussian coat of arms Wichmann Wilhelm I , son of the king
Paris
March 30th 1814 		National Monument for the Wars of Liberation (6) .JPG
center 		Genia crowned by a laurel wreath smoke Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Battle of La Rothière ,
February 1, 1814 		Kreuzbergdenkmal3 - Mother Earth fec.jpg
Right 		Genius in Nordic armor, walks forward, a branch of laurel in his left hand smoke Wichmann Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher
Battle of Wartenburg ,
October 3, 1813 		Kreuzbergdenkmal2- Mother Earth fec.jpg
Left 		Genius in ancient Greek armor, a step in a bark as part of a pontoon bridge smoke Wichmann Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg

Network of monuments

The national monument in Berlin is the central and last point of other monuments of this kind. In a simplified form, this monument was erected by Schinkel on seven battle sites in 1817, five of which have been preserved. The inscription reads “The fallen heroes gratefully honor the king and fatherland. You rest in peace. [Place of slaughter and date] ”.

place battle monument Status Specialty
Großgörschen Battle of Großgörschen Schinkel tabernacle from Großgörschen receive Relocated in 1985
Haynau Battle at Haynau Destroyed by Polish pioneers in 1945
Large berries Battle of Großbeeren Schinkel tabernacle from Großbeeren receive 1853–1982 standing on a column
Wartenburg Battle of Wartenburg Schinkel tabernacle from Wartenburg partially preserved built in 1863
Bellwitzhof (pl: Bielowice) Battle of the Katzbach Schinkel tabernacle from Bellwitzhof not received with disability house
Varvažov (Telnice) Battle of Kulm Schinkel tabernacle from Kulm receive standing on sandstone pillar
Niedergörsdorf Battle of Dennewitz , Schinkel tabernacle by Dennewitz receive Thoroughly renovated in 2002
Planzenoit Battle of Belle Alliance Schinkel tabernacle from Belle Alliance receive Damaged in 1832

literature

Web links

Commons : National monument on the Kreuzberg (Berlin)  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kathrin Chod, Herbert Schwenk and Hainer Weißpflug: Berlin district lexicon Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg . Haude & Spener, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-77590-474-3 , p. 234.
  2. ^ Karl-Eugen Kurrer : The half-timbering conquers the third dimension: 150 years of the Schwedler Dome. Momentum Magazine, January 31, 2013, accessed January 20, 2020 .
  3. ↑ National monument on the Kreuzberg . In: www.luise-berlin.de, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Berlin's lexicon from A-Z . Retrieved February 18, 2017.
  4. ↑ The treasure in Kreuzberg . In: tagesspiegel.de . 2nd June 2016.
  5. ^ Edition Luisenstadt: Wasserfall, Kreuzberg
  6. ↑ Krünitz 1839 books.google , luise-berlin.de , parlament-berlin.de ( Memento of the original from March 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.parlament-berlin.de
  7. ↑ Michael Nungesser, The monument on the Kreuzberg by Karl Friedrich Schinkel , Arenhövel (1987), p. 48. ISBN 3-922912-19-2 .

Coordinates: 52 ° 29 ′ 15.4 "  N , 13 ° 22 ′ 53.4"  E