Brandenburg Gate: A Landmark That Shaped German History

Location: Brandenburg Gate stands in the heart of Berlin, at the western end of Pariser Platz in the Mitte district. It lies between the boulevard Unter den Linden and Straße des 17. Juni, which runs through the Großer Tiergarten.

Significance: Brandenburg Gate is Berlin’s best-known landmark and one of the most famous monuments in Germany. During the division of Germany, it became a symbol of the separation between East and West. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, it has come to represent freedom, German unity, and the overcoming of division around the world.

Predecessor: In 1734, a much smaller gateway was built on the site of today’s Brandenburg Gate as part of Berlin’s customs wall. It consisted of two Baroque-decorated pillars with lockable gates and narrow pedestrian passages. Because it stood on an important route between the Berlin Palace, the Tiergarten, and Charlottenburg Palace, it was probably used frequently by the king and his court. The gate also served as a checkpoint for goods entering the city, where duties were collected. During the 19th and 20th centuries, all the other gates of the former customs wall disappeared. The later Neoclassical structure, however, survived and still marks the memory of Berlin’s historic city boundary.

Construction History: Between 1788 and 1791, Prussian King Frederick William II commissioned the construction of today’s Brandenburg Gate. He entrusted the design to architect Carl Gotthard Langhans, who drew inspiration from the Propylaea, the monumental entrance to the Acropolis in Athens. The structure opened on August 6, 1791, even though it had not yet been fully completed. Two years later, the Quadriga designed by Johann Gottfried Schadow was added, giving Brandenburg Gate the distinctive appearance it still has today.

King Frederick William II: Frederick William II was born in Berlin in 1744 and succeeded his uncle Frederick the Great to the Prussian throne in 1786. Until his death in 1797, he was a major patron of music, art, and architecture. He played the cello himself and commissioned several prestigious buildings. In public, he presented himself as a bringer of peace, although Prussia also became militarily involved in European conflicts during his reign. His private life also attracted considerable attention: the king was officially married twice, had numerous affairs, and during his second marriage entered into two additional morganatic marriages with women of lower social status.

Name: The name Brandenburg Gate goes back to the earlier gateway built in 1734, which stood on the road leading to Brandenburg an der Havel. The gates of Berlin’s customs wall were usually named after the city or destination reached by the road passing through them. This also gave rise to names such as Frankfurter Tor, Potsdamer Tor, and Leipziger Tor. Although the new structure opened in 1791 as the “Gate of Peace” and was intended to express the peace policy of King Frederick William II, the name never caught on among Berliners. The corresponding inscription on the western side facing the Tiergarten also disappeared later.

Nazi Propaganda: On the night of January 30 to 31, 1933, Nazi formations and right-wing nationalist supporters marched through Brandenburg Gate carrying torches. The carefully staged procession celebrated Hitler’s appointment as Reich Chancellor and presented the political transfer of power as a triumphant new beginning. From the very start of Nazi rule, the landmark was deliberately used as a propaganda backdrop for the emerging dictatorship.

Second World War: Brandenburg Gate was badly damaged during the Second World War, although its basic structure survived. The two side buildings were destroyed. The Quadriga was also so badly damaged that it later had to be dismantled. In 1950, the group of figures was removed and destroyed apart from the head of one horse. A plaster cast made as early as 1942 later made it possible to reconstruct the sculpture with a high degree of accuracy. The new Quadriga was made from copper from 1957 onwards and was placed back on Brandenburg Gate in 1958 after difficult negotiations between East and West Berlin. The surviving horse’s head is now displayed at Berlin’s Ephraim-Palais museum.

Division of Germany: After the end of the Second World War, the four victorious Allied powers divided Germany into American, British, French, and Soviet occupation zones. In 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany was established from the three western zones. A few months later, the German Democratic Republic was founded in the Soviet zone. Berlin was also divided into four occupation sectors and was initially administered jointly by the victorious powers. However, growing tensions between the Western powers and the Soviet Union led to the political division of Berlin and to decades of separation between the two German states.

Berlin Wall: As more and more people fled from East Germany to the West, the ruling Socialist Unity Party ordered the border between East and West Berlin to be sealed on August 13, 1961. Brandenburg Gate stood in East Berlin directly beside the border and from then on lay within a heavily guarded restricted zone. It could neither be approached nor passed through. As a result, the famous landmark became a global symbol of the forced division of Berlin, Germany, and Europe during the Cold War.

Reopening After the Fall of the Wall: In the autumn of 1989, East Germany’s leadership came under increasing pressure from continuing mass protests and a growing wave of people leaving the country. On the evening of November 9, Günter Schabowski, a member of the SED Politburo and one of the most prominent spokesmen for the East German leadership, presented new travel regulations at an international press conference. When asked when the new rules would come into effect, he unexpectedly replied that they applied “immediately, without delay”. At that point, however, border guards had not yet been informed of the new regulations and were unprepared for an immediate opening. After the news was broadcast on television, thousands of people rushed to Berlin’s border crossings. The overwhelmed border guards eventually gave in to the growing pressure and opened the crossings that same night. Brandenburg Gate itself initially remained closed and did not reopen to pedestrians until December 22, 1989. West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl walked through the gate from West Berlin and was welcomed on the eastern side by East German Prime Minister Hans Modrow. More than 100,000 people celebrated the reopening of the landmark, transforming it from a symbol of German division into one of freedom and reunification.

Architecture: Brandenburg Gate is one of the most important examples of early German Neoclassicism. Built mainly from Elbe sandstone, the structure is around 26 metres high including the Quadriga, 62.5 metres wide, and 11 metres deep. Twelve Doric columns stand in two rows and divide the gate into five passageways. Until 1918, the central and largest passage was reserved first for the Prussian royal family and later for the German imperial family and their guests. Above the passageways stands the Quadriga, forming the striking crown of the monument.

The Quadriga Today: The monumental group of figures, made from hammered copper sheeting, depicts the winged goddess of victory Victoria riding a two-wheeled chariot drawn by four horses. She faces east towards the historic city centre. In one hand she holds the reins and in the other a staff topped with an oak wreath, the Iron Cross, and a crowned Prussian eagle. Today’s Quadriga is a replica installed in 1958 after the original was almost completely destroyed during the Second World War. Before it was reinstalled, the East German leadership had the eagle and Iron Cross removed because both were regarded as symbols of Prussian-German militarism. During restoration work in 1990 and 1991, both elements were added again. Since then, the Quadriga has once more matched its historic appearance from the period after 1814.

The Original Quadriga: The first version of the Quadriga caused plenty of discussion in Berlin. When it was installed on Brandenburg Gate in 1793, the winged charioteer wore only a thin robe inspired by classical antiquity. Many Berliners felt that Victoria was far too lightly dressed for such a prominent location. The victory emblem in her hand was equally unconvincing. A helmet, breastplate, and two shields were attached to a spear and, from a distance, looked more like a lantern or a scarecrow. The mockery soon followed. Johann Gottfried Schadow therefore revised the group of figures only a short time later. From January 1795 onwards, Victoria wore a floor-length robe and held a lance topped with a laurel wreath and eagle.

The Abduction of the Quadriga: After Prussia’s defeat, Napoleon ordered the Quadriga to be removed from Brandenburg Gate in 1806 and taken to Paris as a war trophy. It was intended to decorate a French triumphal arch but was never installed there. Following Napoleon’s defeat, the group of figures returned to Berlin in 1814 to great public acclaim. For its reinstallation, Karl Friedrich Schinkel added the Iron Cross and the Prussian eagle. This transformed the previously peace-bringing charioteer into a clear symbol of Prussian victory.

Side Buildings: Two gatehouses stand on either side of Brandenburg Gate and originally served different purposes. The southern building housed the city guard, while the northern gatehouse was responsible for administering duties on imported goods. After being destroyed during the Second World War, both buildings were reconstructed. Today, the northern gatehouse contains the Room of Silence, while the southern building houses a tourist information centre.

Room of Silence: Since 1994, the approximately 30-square-metre “Room of Silence” has offered people of all backgrounds, religions, and worldviews a protected place of retreat. In the middle of Berlin’s busy city centre, it invites visitors to pause, find calm, meditate, or pray.

Attic Relief: On the eastern side of Brandenburg Gate, directly below the Quadriga, there is an elaborately carved sandstone relief. It depicts the ceremonial arrival of a winged goddess bringing peace to the city. She is accompanied by figures representing harmony, friendship, joy, and prosperity. At the same time, Hercules drives away the snake-covered figures of envy and discord, clearing the way for peace.

Sculptural Programme: Numerous sculptures and reliefs give Brandenburg Gate a complex visual programme united by a common political message. Across the five passageways, a total of 20 reliefs depict various deeds of Hercules. At the same time, they refer to Prussia’s military successes and reconstruction under Frederick the Great. Other scenes show the battle between the Lapiths, a legendary people from Greek mythology, and the Centaurs, wild creatures with the upper body of a human and the body of a horse. The scene symbolises the victory of order, reason, and self-control over violence, excess, and uncontrolled passions. At the northern gatehouse, Mars, the god of war, places his sword back into its sheath, symbolising the end of conflict. On the southern side, the goddess Minerva represents craftsmanship and economic industriousness. Together, the images convey the idea that military victory should be followed by peace, order, and the rebuilding of the country.

Protests and Demonstrations: For decades, Brandenburg Gate has been an important setting for political and social demonstrations. As early as August 1961, large numbers of people gathered on the West Berlin side to protest against the sealing of the city and the construction of the Berlin Wall. Since the fall of the Wall, major demonstrations for peace, democracy, social causes, and climate protection have regularly taken place around the landmark.

Ronald Reagan’s Speech: On June 12, 1987, US President Ronald Reagan delivered one of the best-known speeches of the Cold War on the West Berlin side of Brandenburg Gate. Addressing Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, he issued an emphatic appeal: “Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” His words travelled around the world and became a symbol of freedom and of overcoming the division of Germany and Europe. Around two and a half years later, the Berlin Wall fell.

New Year’s Eve Celebration: On December 31, 1989, hundreds of thousands of people from East and West gathered at Brandenburg Gate to welcome the new year together. Only a few weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the celebration became an internationally recognised symbol of newly gained freedom and also established the tradition of large New Year’s Eve events at this historic location. One of the evening’s most famous moments was David Hasselhoff’s performance. Standing on a raised platform in front of the Berlin Wall, he sang his hit song “Looking for Freedom”. Although the song had been released before the fall of the Wall, this performance linked it closely with hopes for freedom and the prospect of German reunification. The scene remains one of the best-known pop-culture memories of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Marathon: During the Berlin Marathon, runners pass through Brandenburg Gate shortly before reaching the finish. For many participants, running through the famous landmark is one of the most emotional moments of the race. From there, only around 350 to 400 metres remain before the finish line on Straße des 17. Juni.

Damage in 2023: Brandenburg Gate suffered significant damage twice in 2023. On January 15, a 26-year-old driver crashed into one of the columns at high speed and was killed. The impact damaged the lower section of the column. Hot engine oil also penetrated deep into the porous sandstone. The repair costs amounted to around €39,000. On September 17, members of the group “Letzte Generation” sprayed several columns with orange-yellow paint to draw attention to their climate policy demands. Because the paint penetrated deep into the sandstone, the cleaning process proved particularly difficult. The work lasted almost three months and cost around €115,000.

“Der Rufer” Sculpture: Not far from Brandenburg Gate, the bronze sculpture “Der Rufer” by Gerhard Marcks stands on the central reservation of Straße des 17. Juni. In 1966, Radio Bremen commissioned the artist to create a work for its new television building. It was intended to symbolise the role of broadcasting in carrying news and voices out into the world. The original was installed in Bremen in 1967. The Berlin figure is a later cast. It was unveiled in May 1989, just a few months before the fall of the Berlin Wall. The sculpture, around three metres high, depicts a barefoot man in a long robe. He holds his hands around his open mouth like a megaphone. Because the figure faced towards the Wall, which still stood at the time, it acquired a particular political meaning as a call for peace, freedom, and understanding. The inscription on the pedestal reads: “I walk through the world and call out: Peace, peace, peace.”