Brandenburg Gate

Seen above as it was before the Wall was built in 1962, the Brandenburg Gate was perhaps the best known symbol of the divided city. The view here is looking through the Gate from the British sector into the Russian Zone and the Western end of Unter den Linden can be seen beyond the great Doric columns.

It was started in 1788 for King Frederick William 11 and was completed in 1791 when traffic passed through it for the first time and the the King himself was present at the opening. Built by Carl Gotthard Langhans senior, it was modelled on the Proplaea on the Acropolis in Athens.

203 feet wide and 65 feet high it is only 36 feet from one side to the other. The twelve Doric columns, six on each side, allow for five carriagways, but only the two outside ones on each side were used by ordinary people, the middle passage was used only by carriages of the Royal Court.

On top is the Goddess of Victory driving her four horsed chariot and she is brandishing her symbols of victory in triumph. When the statue was first erected, she was completely naked, but this offended a lot of the Berliners whilst the rest made lewd jokes at her expense. The sculptor, Johann Gottfried Schadow, was most upset by this and so he made her a set of clothes in sheet copper which she wears to this day!

When Napoleon defeated the Prussians, he took the statue with him to France where it remained until it was returned to Berlin after the wars of Liberation.

When the Wall was built in 1961, the Brandenburg Gate was just inside the boundary line and so was unable to be reached by the West Berliners. The picture below shows two friends of mine in front of the Wall and the Brandengurg Gate in 1981 and the scene has changed. The Wall now sits in front of the gate and unless you climbed the viewing towers, you could not see the Gate properly. On the other side, just to the left of this picture, the ever present and watchful East German guards watched carefully to make sure that nobody crossed the Wall. The guns were not idle threats either and many East German people died trying to cross the Wall to freedom.