Siegessauele (trans: Victories Columns)

Angel at the Top of the Siegersauele

Posted by James

For the last month, we've had visitors almost constantly with a maximum of 4 days between visits and a minimum of none, which is why our posting frequency has slowed down. Now, we have about three weeks until we are scheduled to leave, so I thought I would do a few posts to finish up about my favorite places in Berlin.

One of those places is a monument called the Siegessauele, translated into English as the "Victories Columns". It's located in the center of a huge traffic circle, called Grosserstern, in the middle of the Tiergarten Park. But the Siegessauele is visible from the Brandenburg Gate, on the east, all the way to Sophie Charlotte Platz on Bismarkstrassse to the west. It acts as a kind of backdrop to views along Bismarkstrasse through Strasse des 17 Juni, the angel on top hovering on the horizon like a shimmering gold vision.

The monument consists of a broad cylindrical base on top of which is a column, topped off by a standing angel called Viktoria, for victory. Below you can see the whole monument from the other side of the traffic circle:

 (Well, looks a little more like the leaning tower of Pisa, but...)

The Siegessauele, designed by Heinrick Strack, originated as a crass celebration of Prussian militarism. Prussia conducted three wars during the late 19th century to construct a unified Germany out of the handful of German speaking princely states and Austria: one with Denmark in 1864, one with Austria in 1866, and one with France in 1870/71. After the last war, Wilhelm King of Prussia had himself crowned Emperor Wilhelm I of the German Empire at Versailles, and commissioned the Siegessauele to commemorate the victories. These wars seem to have cemented militarism into Prussian and by extension German, society, at a time when many other European countries, such as Britain and France - having achieved unification of like minded cultural and linguistic groups through force centuries earlier - were evolving toward a more democratic social and governmental form, while simultaneously exporting their use of force for gaining territory to Africa and Asia where they were engaged in colonization. This militaristic mind set persisted into the 20th century, catalyzing that century's tragic story of war and destruction in Europe.

In any event, the Siegessauele is really worth a visit. You enter through underpasses on both sides of the Grosserstern traffic circle. Along the passageway to the center, you can see this piece of video art:

The work consists of four huge black and white video screens on which giant white pixels light up like stars as you walk by. There's no attribution on the work, but it's pure Berlin, interesting art in an unexpected place.

You come up in the center of Grosserstern and stand in line for a bit to enter the monument. Here's the view from the line:

The iron bas-reliefs around the base which you can see in the lower left of the picture above (no detail unfortunately) depict important scenes from the three wars of unification. After WWII, three of the four were removed and taken to Paris and stored away in a hidden place. The French occupation authorities in Berlin then requested that the Siegessauele be torn down, understandable in that one of the wars involved the defeat of France by Prussia, but the American and British authorities vetoed the request. The iron bas-reliefs were first returned from France in 1987 as a gift for the 750th anniversary celebration of Berlin's founding.

It costs 5 euros to get in, but for that you get to look through a museum about the history of the monument and the story of its construction. Interestingly, the current location wasn't where it was originally built. Kaiser Wilhelm I originally had it built in Koenigsplatz, which today is known as Platz der Republik where the Reichstaggebeude (Parliment building) was built in 1884. But Albert Speer, Hitler's chief architect and urban planner, had it moved to Grosserstern in 1938/39 as part of Speer's plan for making Berlin the  "World Capital Germania", and, at the same time, the mounment was enlarged by adding an additional 7.5 meter section to the column. That move probably saved it from destruction during WWII, since Tiergarten, being a park, didn't experience as much bombardment as other parts of the city.

A short set of stairs leads up to a platform around the monument base. The walls of the base are covered with mosaics, one of which you can see here:

Not exactly sure what this is supposed to represent, but the net suggests fishermen and the guy with the sword at the top a martial theme of some sort.

Another long set of stairs leads up to the platform below the angel. The view from the platform is stunning, you can see Alexanderplatz and clear out to Teufelsberg and the Funkturm (Radio Tower) on the east side of the city. In the other direction - straight up - you can see the bottom of the angel:

The angel was designed by Friedrich Drake. In her right hand, she holds a laurel wreath, the symbol of victory in ancient Rome, while in her left, she holds a military medallion, the Iron Cross, which played an important role in the Prussian military culture.

While the Siegessauele started out as a celebration of militarism, like a lot of places in Berlin (abandoned industrial buildings becoming street art galleries for example) it's been repurposed in a way that I find so refreshing and exciting about the city. Unlike so many cities in the US, which cling to their historical sites, Berlin seems to be a place that is constantly reinventing itself while, at the same time, acknowledging and incorporating its past into that reinvention. The Siegessaule appears in many examples of Berlin popular culture. For example, it's featured in the Wim Wenders film "Wings of Desire" ("Himmel ueber Berlin" in German). In the film, an angel, played by Bruno Ganz, falls in love with a circus performer and decides to become human. Here's a poster showing the angel sitting on top of the Siegersauele*:

Here's a picture of the angel wearing headphones on the side of a tour bus in an advertisement for Radio Berlin:

 And here's a picture of a store window in a jewelry store along the Ku'damm, where the angel is being used to show off the store's wares:

Like the Berliner bear, the Siegessauele has become a symbol of Berlin itself, representing the resilience and creativity that has driven the city to recover from the disasters of the 20th century to become one of the most exciting and vibrant places on the planet in the 21st.

Updated 8/30/2015: Here's a music video link with the Siegerssauele in it. Starts at 2:47.

*This is a Fair Use notification, a nonprofit lower resolution picture to illustrate a point about Berlin culture.

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