The Brandenburg Gate was the scene of joyous celebrations of the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. Atop the gate was a winged goddess driving a chariot with four horses, perhaps in exultation, perhaps in triumph.

News reporters described the end of a story that had lasted 40 years. But the tale of the goddess, the chariot, and the Brandenburg Gate was more than two centuries older. Its characters included two kings, two empires, a US president, generals, two great capital cities, two of Berlin’s great architects, and one of Germany’s great sculptors.

It was a story of symbols, changing fortunes, and identities. It was also about two goddesses, if only because the present one is only a copy.

The Brandenburg Gate has long been a national icon and a representation of German identity. Its historical events, including military victories and periods of peace, have shaped its status as a symbol of unity. The gate’s presence during significant moments in German history, such as the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification, has solidified its place as a landmark and icon of peace.

Throughout German history, the Brandenburg Gate has been a site for triumphal processions and significant political events. From its role in Nazi propaganda under Adolf Hitler to the celebrations of German unity led by figures like Helmut Kohl, the gate has been a frequent target for both symbolic and literal victories. Its central arch and the surrounding Pariser Platz have witnessed thousands of spectators gathered for historical events.

The creation of the Brandenburg Gate

The Brandenburg Gate, the place where Berliners like to see in the new year, was designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans. The commission came from the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm II, who wanted a suitable entry to the avenue of Unter den Linden at the site of one of Berlin’s former Customs gates, the Brandenburger Tor. To Friedrich Wilhelm, the gate represented grandeur and power.

The Brandenburg Gate is an 18th century monument with a rich history. Its Greek Revival style, inspired by ancient temples, and its sandstone gate structure make it a recognisable icon. The Doric columns and the quadriga statue atop the gate add to its status as a monumental structure and famous monument in Berlin’s central district.

Langhans’ inspiration was the Propylaea portal of the Acropolis of Athens and the gate, when unveiled in 1791, was called the Friedenstor (‘peace gate’). But in those days, the city of Berlin ended there and it was the gate for the road to Brandenburg. The old name persisted.

Panels and medallions between the gate’s columns depict the labours of Heracles.

Berlin, the goddess and the gate

In 1793 Johann Gottfried Schadow’s sculpted quadriga was placed on top, an image as Classical as Langhans’ sandstone Doric-inspired columns and suggesting triumph.

But Schadow, a specialist in representing human figures, aspired now to shape the divine: his charioteer was Eirene, goddess of peace and tranquillity, bearing a laurel of olive leaves and drawn by four horses. It is still regarded as the first quadriga since ancient times.

What did it all mean? Some saw in the Brandenburg Gate a defiance of the French Revolution, as the goddess had her back to France.

Napoleon was in no doubt this was true. He defeated Prussia and in 1806 occupied Berlin. The emperor, who understood power, studied the imagery of Schadow’s signature work.

Where better for it to reside than his own capital? What better trophy from a conquered enemy? He had the quadriga hauled down and carted back to Paris in crates, only for the goddess to wind up in storage. To the typically irreverent Berliners, Napoleon became ‘the horse thief’.

Fortunes, not for the last time in our story, changed. In 1814, with Napoleon in exile, the quadriga was reclaimed by the Prussian army and returned by the general Gebhard von Blücher to its home. By then Prussian victories over France were being celebrated and the site of the gate was renamed Pariser Platz.

Another giant of architecture, Karl Friedrich Schinkel, had designed on Friedrich Wilhelm III’s commission a new Prussian decoration based on the king’s version of a cross used by the medieval Deutscher Orden (Teutonic Knights). His gift to the goddess was a conqueror’s laurel (now with oak leaves), royal eagle and the new Iron Cross. She was thus recast as Viktoria. Clearly, all this was a celebration of a satisfying triumph and used imperial imagery that now matched Prussian ambitions.

By now, Classicism had seized Berlin. As the Prussian star rose the capital was being hailed as ‘Athens on the Spree’ with a gate to match its ambitions. Soon Prussia led a German empire. In 1871 the Prussian army marched back through the gate from Paris, once again victors.

The gate, the world wars and the Cold War

In 1913 the Brandenburg Gate and the goddess were the focus of celebrations of the centenary of the Battle of Leipzig one year before World War I. It was later celebrated by the Nazis, who saw a place for processions.

But these events were in contrast to the scene in 1945. After a second defeat in three decades, Berlin was again occupied by French troops. The gate remained, but the quadriga was crumpled. Over it flew the Soviet red flag.

The German Democratic Republic had little taste for Prussians and, it said, for militarism. To this regime, the Brandenburg Gate and its quadriga was about war, and the Nazis had embraced it. The new German-speaking state aimed to wipe history’s slate clean, and the Quadriga was removed for restoration.

In 1958 a copy of the original quadriga returned to crown the gate, minus the Iron Cross and all its associations. In 1961 the GDR built the Berlin Wall behind the gate, and armed guards patrolled the barriers that blocked access to it. To a generation, it became a gate to nowhere.

Later the communists softened their stance towards the Prussian legacy, and in the 1980s even returned Frederick the Great’s equestrian statue and its cast of Prussian luminaries to the far end of Unter den Linden. The goddess remained without her cross, but by now time for the Communists was running out. US president Ronald Reagan made a speech with the gate as a backdrop, calling for it to be reopened and the Berlin Wall torn down.

The Brandenburg Gate reopens

In 1989, the Brandenburg Gate had been effectively part of the Berlin Wall for 40 years and symbolised division. On November 9, however, the GDR government began to crumble, and gates were opened to again join the divided cities and the German people. West Berliners climbed the wall and began to hack away at it. By Christmas, the gate was open, although the quadriga had been damaged in the revelry. 

When history’s wheel turned again in 1989, what did the goddess think? People from both sides cheered, the wall was dismantled, and pieces of it were sold on Pariser Platz. In 1991 she was again restored, with the Iron Cross and regalia. In 1993 Pariser Platz was redesigned with new embassies (American, British, Russian, and, of course, the French) nearby. Among the souvenir vendors was an organ grinder wearing a Prussian Pickelhaube.

By then, this goddess had seen most things.

More than 35 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, 100 years after World War I, and after 200 years as Viktoria, what does the goddess in the chariot signify: victory or peace? Hopefully, she stands for both.

For the world today, the Brandenburg Gate symbolises Berlin. For Berliners, however, it means unity.

Raven Travel Guides Europe offers in-depth information and detailed insights on Berlin's landmarks in its Berlin travel guide. Check out Berlin’s Museum Island, its chief palaces, Schloss Charlottenburg and Berliner Schloss, or Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche.

BRANDENBURG GATE FACTS

● Style: Greek Revival
● Architect: Carl Gotthard Langhans
● Quadriga: Johann Gottfried Schadow, Karl Friedrich Schinkel
● Dimensions: 26 metres high, 65.5 metres wide, 11 metres deep
● Construction dates: 1788-91