Brandenburg Gate

The Brandenburg Gate which is 65 ft. high and 213 ft. wide was built from 1788 - 1791 by Karl Gotthard Langhans. It is shaped after the "Propylene" in Athens. Once the boundary between East and West Berlin, it is now the symbol of reunification. The gate is crowned by a statue of Nike, the winged goddess of victory, driving a two-wheeled chariot drawn by four horses . The gate's northern wing contains the Room of Silence, where the weary and frenzied can sit and meditate.

The Brandenburg Gate plays a highly symbolic role in the German history. Initially, it was the western city gate and until the emperor’s resignation, only members of the royal family were allowed to use the middle part of the gate. In 1806 Napoleon and his troops marched into Berlin and moved the Quadriga to Paris where it was shown in the Louvre as a sign of victory. Marshall Blücher took the Quadriga back to Berlin after the victory over the French in 1814. After the German Nazis took over, the gate became a symbol for fascist Germany. It subsequently became one of the most potent symbols of Cold War division of Germany and of Europe.

In 1989 the borders between the two German countries were opened and now the gate has become a symbol of German reunification and is one of the best loved attractions in Berlin.

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