The Brandenburg Gate

Brandenburg Gate, considered one of the symbols of Berlin - is a triumphal arch, which is located in the Paris area. Brandenburg Gate as a sign of peace, ordered by Friedrich Wilhelm II, and was designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans them in the 1788 - 1791's., They are made in the style of Berlin classicism. The Brandenburg Gate is, if I may say so, the Prussian Range increased to a copy of the classic antique triumphal arch. The inspiration for creating scooped by contemplating the image of Greek Propylaea, which were monumental entrance to the Athenian Parthenon. The Brandenburg Gate has a height of 26 m, length - 65.5 m and a thickness of - 11 pm They consist of the 12 Greek Doric columns, six in two rows.

At the time of construction of the gate was covered with nearly white sandstone. But for more than two hundred year history of the Brandenburg Gate is not just a color change that was, and light coffee, and soft green, yellow and intensely, and even blue. The second half of the twentieth century remained in the memory of Berliners and visitors alike, as the period when the gate was a dirty gray, smoky exhaust gases from an active movement on the street Unter den Linden (Unter den Linden), and June 17.

When in 2000 it was planned to restore the gates and clean them from centuries of dirt, it was decided that the inhabitants of the city should participate in the selection of colors gate. Then, before closing the door for work, they painted in different colors. And next to the gate installed alabaster models, which were painted in white, gray, ocher and natural color sandstone. Dropping a coin in one of the models, Berliners voted for the next color. Chosen, after all, white. For repairs then spent nearly ten million German marks.

Brandenburg Gate is distinguished by the fact that they were the most tenacious, because today it is the only remaining gate of the fourteen who in former times surrounded Berlin.

Above the gate stands the famous quadriga of the six-meter Gottfried Schadow, which is often photographed. Quadriga was built in 1793, it depicts the statue of the goddess of Peace, which governs a chariot drawn by four horses. Napoleon, having conquered Berlin, really liked the quadriga, and he ordered to demolish it and move to Paris. In 1814 quadriga was returned to Berlin, olive wreath on the statue changed the Iron Cross, the work of Friedrich Schinkel, and became the goddess of Victory.

In 1945, the Brandenburg Gate was the only building that survived during the war, and lonely, rose over the ruins of other buildings of the Paris area. When the Second World War was over, the gate was reduced under the control of governments East and West Berlin.

In 1961, Brandenburg Gate, built into the erected the Berlin Wall that divided eastern and western parts of the city, and they were closed. The gate was opened again until December 22, 1989, when the Berlin Wall was destroyed. Then, the West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl walked through them, to welcome the Prime Minister Hans Modrow of East Germany. Since that time, the Brandenburg Gate are an architectural symbol of peace, unity and reunification of Berlin.

Brandenburg Gate - a place that does not pass either a tourist group visiting the German capital. And today, when they completed the reconstruction, this monument is the more admired.