Architecture
Location of Bismarck monument in HamburgThe monument is about 35 m (115 ft) high and has a weight of 600 t (590 long tons; 660 short tons), and is the world-largest Bismarck monument.
Inside the Bismarck monument is today still a complex painting showing the Black Sun image in Wewelsburg with a central piece incorporating a sunwheel and swastikas and the texts "Great questions will not be resolved by talk, but by iron and blood" (Ger: "Nicht durch Reden werden große Fragen entschieden, sondern durch Eisen und Blut"). It is unknown where this painting came from.
During the years 1939 to 1940, the base of the statue became an airraid shelter which was meant for passers-by, visitors of the jetty and direct adjacent residents, offering protection for up to 650 people. The purpose of the catacombs surrounding the monument, built in 1906, is still unknown. The inside of the Bismarck-Monument is not accessible to public visitors anymore for safety reasons.
Read more about this topic: Bismarck Monument (Hamburg)
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