Brandenburg Gate

The Brandenburg Gate is an ancient gateway to Berlin and one of the main symbols of both the city and Germany. It is not a triumphal arch but served as the entrance, like a propylaea, to the "New Berlin" of the time. It is located in the current center of the city, in Pariser Platz, forming the end of Unter den Linden avenue and marking the beginning of the large Tiergarten park and Straße des 17. Juni avenue. Nearby are also the Reichstag and Potsdamer Platz. Important events in Berlin's history are linked to the Brandenburg Gate.

The Brandenburg Gate, designed by architect Carl Gotthard Langhans, is a sandstone construction 26 meters high, 65.5 meters wide, and 11 meters long in the early Neoclassical style. It resembles the Propylaea of the Acropolis of Athens. It has five passageways, the central one being the widest, with two smaller gates on the sides. The columns are of the Doric style, fluted, and at their base reach a diameter of 1.75 meters. The upper part and the interior of the passageways are covered with reliefs depicting Hercules, Mars, and the goddess Minerva. After the city wall was demolished (1867/68), Friedrich Schinkel's disciple, Johann Heinrich Strack, added the two larger porticos on both sides.

The gate is crowned with a copper sculpture about 5 meters high, the Quadriga, created by Johann Gottfried Schadow, which represents the goddess of Victory mounted on a chariot pulled by four horses heading towards the city.