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The original Brandenburg Gate was built in 1734, erected as an ornamental city gate on the road to Brandenburg an der Havel.
The quadriga was eventually returned in 1814 after Paris fell to the Sixth Coalition (consisting of Russia, Austria, and Prussia), but with two significant additions. An iron cross was added to the statue, surmounted by an eagle, symbols of Prussia's victory over France.
It was King Frederick William II of Prussia who in 1788 ordered the construction of a new Brandenburg Gate as a key entry point into Berlin. The triumphant arch was topped with a bronze statue known as the quadriga, which depicted the goddess of victory driving a chariot pulled by four horses.
The quadriga is central to an event that took place after Napoleon entered the city on October 27, 1806, flushed with victory after defeating the Prussian army at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt. French forces seized the statue, dismantled it, and shipped it back to Paris.
During the same period, the square that the gate overlooks was renamed Paris Square (Pariser Plazt) as another reminder of the French Empire's humiliating defeat.
The German revolution of 1918–1919 spawned the Spartacist uprising, a political power struggle that pitched supporters of the provisional government against those who backed the position of the Communist Party of Germany. The quadriga crowning the Brandenburg Gate became a sniper's nest for government troops looking to pick off communist sympathizers.
The gate become the focus of another victory celebration after the Prussian army had defeated the Second French Empire in 1871. Huge crowds gathered to cheer the victors, the monument wrapped in streamers and decorated with bunting.
Subsequent engravings of the Brandenburg Gate clearly show the monument minus its chariot and horses.
Langhans' triumphal arch opened out onto Unter den Linden, Berlin's most fashionable boulevard. Named for the linden trees that lined the broad thoroughfare, the avenue was the beating heart of the city's vibrant social scene and the location of many of its grandest buildings.
By the 1920s, the Brandenburg Gate was one of the most recognized landmarks in Europe. It was designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans, who'd been inspired by the monumental gateway at the entrance to the Acropolis in Athens. His gate was 85 ft (26 m) high and supported by two rows of six Doric columns.
In March 1920, the gate and Paris Square again became a battleground, this time for the Kapp Putsch, an attempted coup against the German national government. On March 18, members of the Marine Brigade (Marinebrigade Ehrhardt), one of the main supporters of the Kapp Putsch that tried to overthrow the Weimar Republic, opened fire on an unfriendly crowd of bystanders, leaving 12 civilians dead and 30 severely wounded.
Berlin's cultural life during the 1920s revolved around glamour and a modernity that sent waves of influence and envy throughout the world. But the city was also undergoing profound political and social change marked by economic instability. Something was in the air, and the omens didn't bode well.
After Adolf Hitler became chancellor in 1933, Germany became a dictatorship. On January 30, 1933, thousands of brown shirted stormtroopers and SS members passed under the Brandenburg Gate in celebration of the Führer's ascension to power. The monument thereafter was used as a potent symbol of the Nazi Party.
Hitler himself passed under the Brandenburg Gate on numerous occasions. He's seen here on August 1, 1936, on his way to open the Summer Olympic Games.
The Brandenburg Gate remained festooned with swastikas throughout much of the conflict. But as the war turned in favor of the Allies, Berlin was nearing an apocalypse that would see one of the world's most prosperous and historic capital cities reduced to rubble.
The Nazis used the gate for propaganda purposes throughout the early years of the Second World War. In this rare color image, a victory parade is being held on July 18, 1940, celebrating the invasion of Poland and the fall of France.
The Battle for Berlin brought with it the near destruction of the city. Miraculously, the Brandenburg Gate was left standing. The Red Army wasted no time using the venerable building as a platform for their own show of propaganda, raising the Soviet flag over the quadriga shortly after taking the city in May 1945.
Surrounded by scorched earth and smashed and broken buildings, the badly damaged gate stood balancing on its bullet-pocked columns.
After the war, the gate was left in disrepair for several years while other areas of Berlin were rebuilt. By now the monument was standing in the Soviet sector and the Russians were in no rush to spend valuable time and money restoring a monument they saw as representing the Third Reich.
The Brandenburg Gate had survived one tragedy only to witness another unfold, when it was used to mark the border between Communist East Berlin and the Federal Republic of West Berlin. In the foreground the sign says: "Attention, you have only 40 meters more in West Berlin."
Berlin, and Germany, was ideologically divided. Then in August 1961, the city was cut in two with the building of the Berlin Wall. In this photograph, taken from the Berlin Victory Column, the Brandenburg Gate can be seen separating West Berlin from East Berlin and the German Democratic Republic.
With the wall came a refurbished quadriga. The Russians, like the French before them, had removed the statue shortly before the wall went up. The original had been melted down, recast, and then reinstated. Only one head of one of the horses survived the havoc wreaked upon the city, and this relic is stored in the Märkisches Museum (currently closed).
In 1963 during the height of the Cold War, John F. Kennedy made one of the most famous addresses of his presidency to a crowd of 120,000 gathered outside West Berlin's city hall, and within sight of the Brandenburg Gate. During his speech he declared: "I am a Berliner" to the delight of the gathered throng.
It would be 14 years before another US president, this time Ronald Reagan, would echo Kennedy's sentiments with a plea to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall." Again, the gate served as a suitably symbolic backdrop.
Two years later the wall did fall, on November 9, 1989. On December 22, 1989, the Brandenburg Gate border crossing was reopened when Helmut Kohl, the West German chancellor, walked through to be greeted by Hans Modrow, the East German prime minister. Germany was officially reunified in October 1990.
Besides forever symbolizing a reunited Berlin, the Brandenburg Gate remains one of the most visited historical attractions in Germany and Europe as a whole.
More than that, the gate stands today as a national symbol of peace and unity. On February 24, 2023, the iconic building was illuminated in blue and yellow, the colors of the Ukrainian national flag, to commemorate the first anniversary of Russia's war in Ukraine.
And the gate has served on many occasions as an impressive backdrop for music concerts and other performing arts events. Here, Irish rock band U2 are pictured in 2009 giving a free concert in collaboration with MTV Europe to help the city celebrate 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Berlin Pride, one of the largest gay and lesbian organized events in Germany and one of the biggest in Europe, takes place annually within sight of the Brandenburg Gate, as if to signify tolerance and diversity.
And if you find yourself in Berlin over the festive and new year periods, the fireworks display that lights up the sky behind the gate on New Year's Eve is one of the most spectacular in the country.
Sources: (History) (visitBerlin) (Britannica) (Go Easy Berlin)
See also: Cities that were rebuilt after being completely destroyed
In the early part of the 20th century, the neoclassical landmark became a rallying point for politically minded and increasingly volatile Berliners, especially during the First World War.
The Brandenburg Gate is one of the most recognized monuments in Germany, and, indeed, Europe. Located in Berlin, the triumphal arch has a tumultuous history. Completed in 1791, this neoclassical masterpiece has survived two global conflicts, and served as a physical and ideological barrier under Soviet rule during the Cold War. Today, this iconic structure is a symbol of peace and unity, and remains a popular and venerated visitor attraction. So, what else has this gate gone through in its 230-plus year history?
Click through and take a thorough look at the Brandenburg Gate.
The Brandenburg Gate: a symbol of division or unity?
The tumultuous history of Berlin's triumphal arch
LIFESTYLE History
The Brandenburg Gate is one of the most recognized monuments in Germany, and, indeed, Europe. Located in Berlin, the triumphal arch has a tumultuous history. Completed in 1791, this neoclassical masterpiece has survived two global conflicts, and served as a physical and ideological barrier under Soviet rule during the Cold War. Today, this iconic structure is a symbol of peace and unity, and remains a popular and venerated visitor attraction. So, what else has this gate gone through in its 230-plus year history?
Click through and take a thorough look at the Brandenburg Gate.