- Bismarck Memorial
The Bismarck Memorial ( _de. Bismarck-Nationaldenkmal), located in the
Tiergarten inBerlin , is a prominent memorialstatue dedicated to PrinceOtto von Bismarck , Prime Minister of theKingdom of Prussia and the first Chancellor of theGerman Empire . It was sculpted byReinhold Begas .The massive memorial in Berlin portrays Bismarck in his ceremonial garb as Chancellor standing above statues of:
*Atlas, showing Germany's world power status at the end of the 19th century;
*Siegfried, forging a sword to show Germany's strong industrial and military might;
*a woman with a slain panther underfoot, symbolizing the suppression ofsedition by the state;
*and another woman atop asphinx reading a document representing statesmanship.The statue, along with the famous
Berlin victory column , were once located in front of theReichstag building before they were moved in 1938 byAdolf Hitler in his project to recast Berlin asWelthauptstadt Germania . The colossal statue weathered a marked amount of shrapnel damage duringWorld War II , but has survived largely intact to the present day. In fact, the move probably saved the monument from total destruction, as the old garden in front of the Reichstag was completely obliterated in the war.ee also
*
Bismarck tower
*Bismarck-Denkmal (Hamburg) External links
* [http://www.theberlinobserver.com/siegessaeule.htm Detailed information]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
