Berlin Victory Column
The Victory Column (German: Siegessäule) is a monument in Berlin, Germany. Designed by Heinrich Strack after 1864 to commemorate the Prussian victory in the Danish-Prussian War, by the time it was inaugurated on 2 September 1873, Prussia had also defeated Austria in the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and France in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71), giving the statue a new purpose. Different from the original plans, these later victories in the so-called unification wars inspired the addition of the bronze sculpture of Victoria, 8.3 metres high and weighing 35 tonnes, designed by Friedrich Drake. Berliners, with their fondness for giving nicknames to buildings, call the statue Goldelse, meaning something like "Golden Lizzy".
The Victory Column is a major tourist attraction to the city of Berlin and opens daily: 9:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. (April – October), and 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. (November – March).
Read more about Berlin Victory Column: Cultural References
Famous quotes containing the words berlin, victory and/or column:
“Oh, how I hate to get up in the morning,
Oh, how I’d love to remain in bed.”
—Irving Berlin (1888–1989)
“In victory be not proud; in defeat be not depressed.”
—Chinese proverb.
“Sleep sweetly in your humble graves,
Sleep, martyrs of a fallen cause;
Though yet no marble column craves
The pilgrim here to pause.”
—Henry Timrod (1828–1867)