Here are some facts about the Brandenburg Gate.
- The Brandenburg Gate is a triumphal arch in Berlin.
- Commissioned by Friedrich Wilhelm II, the Brandenburg Gate was built between 1788 and 1791.
- It was designed, by Carl Gotthard Langhans, to represent peace.
- The gate is made up of 12 columns, forming five walkways.
- A statue of a chariot drawn by four horses (called a quadriga) sits on top of the gate.
- In 1806, Napoleon had the Quadriga statue removed from the gate. It was kept in Paris until Napoleon was defeated in 1814, when it was returned to Berlin.
- The goddess Victoria is riding in the chariot.
- The gates style is based on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece.
- When the Nazis came to power, the Brandenburg Gate was used as a Nazi symbol.
- The gate survived World War II, but it was riddled with bullet holes and the Quadriga was almost totally destroyed.
- After the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the Brandenburg Gate came to symbolize freedom.
- In 2000 the gate was repaired and restored. The work cost 6 million Euros.
- The area around the Brandenburg Gate is now fully pedestrianized.
- The Brandenburg Gate is the traditional finish line of the Berlin Marathon.
- In 2022, the Brandenburg Gate was illuminated in the colours of the Ukraine flag (yellow and blue) to show support for Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
