Brandenburg Gate
Brandenburg Gate is a former city gate and one of the main symbols of Berlin and Germany. It is the only remaining gate of a series through which one formerly entered Berlin. One block to the north stands the Reichstag. The gate is the monumental entry to Unter den Linden, the renowned boulevard of linden trees which formerly led directly to the city palace of the Prussian monarchs. It was commissioned as a sign of peace and built from 1788 to 1791. It is now considered one of Europe’s most famous sights.
The Brandenburg Gate consists of twelve columns, six to each side, forming five passageways. Citizens originally were allowed to use only the outermost two. Only the royal family were allowed to pass through the central archway. Atop the gate is the Quadriga, a chariot drawn by four horses driven by Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory.
Photo by Wolfgang Staudt
When the Nazis ascended to power they used the Gate as a party symbol. The Gate survived World War II and was one of the few structures standing in the Pariser Platz ruins in 1945. Following Germany’s surrender and the end of the war, the governments of East Berlin and West Berlin restored it in a joint effort. Vehicles and pedestrians could again travel freely through the gate, until August 1961 when the Berlin Wall was erected. The wall and its fortified death strip ran just west of the gate, cutting off access from West Berlin and the “baby Wall” on the Eastern side rendered it off limits to East Berliners as well, until the wall’s demolition in 1989.
When the Revolutions of 1989 occurred and the Berlin Wall collapsed, the Gate symbolized freedom and the desire to unify the city of Berlin. On December 22, 1989, the Brandenburg Gate re-opened when Helmut Kohl, the West German chancellor, walked through to be greeted by Hans Modrow, the East German prime minister.
The Brandenburg Gate is now again closed for vehicle traffic, and much of Pariser Platz has been turned into a cobblestone pedestrian zone.
The Berlin marathon starts and finishes near the Brandenburg Gate. Because of the division of the city, the marathon events before 1990 were limited to the area of West Berlin. In 1990 athletes poured through the Brandenburg Gate and the unified city saw its first race running through both areas. It was reported that a great many of the runners had tears in their eyes as they ran through that historic gate.