Brandenburg Gate in Berlin : a short history
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- Опубліковано 12 кві 2019
- 6 August 1791, the Brandenburg Gate was opened, one of the world’s best known symbols, a symbol of Germany, of partition of not just Berlin but all of Europe. At its origin, as today, it was a symbol of peace and tolerance but it was also used by the Nazis and their Communist successors as a sign of their intolerance.
It was originally built by Frederick William II of Prussia and designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans, the Court Superintendent of Buildings. Langhans wanted to created something like an Athens on the Spree and the Brandenburg gate is based upon the gateway to the Acropolis. It was constructed on the site of guardhouses between 1788 and 1791. The gate is 1,026 cm high and has has twelve Doric columns, six to each side. There are five walkways through the gate.
The gate is topped by a chariot drawn by four horses and was first named the Peace Gate.
The gate is of course often associated with armies marching and the first one to do this was the French army and Napoleon took the horse drawn chariot to Paris. The Prussians got it back in 1814 after Napoleon was defeated for the first time.
Other military marches through the gate include the victory marches after the campaigns against France in 1871 and 1940 as well as the rather pathetic march of the Home Guard (Volkssturm) organised by Goebbels in 1944. It was also the location of a torch light procession on the night of 30 January 1933 when Hitler was appointed Chancellor. The Soviets also used it in their propaganda posters with slogans exorting their troops to victory with an image of a gate somewhat similar to that of the Brandenburg Gate. The gate survived the bombing and the battle for Berlin in World War II although somewhat damaged mainly from fighting in this area on 30 April - 1 May 1945.
Following WW2, Berlin was divided but until 13 August 1961, citizens of East Berlin could travel to the east and vice versa. On that day the city was cut in two by the construction of the wall. The gate found itself almost directly on the border just inside East Berlin.
This symbol of a divided Europe was the backdrop for speeches by US Presidents Kennedy and Reagan. Kennedy announced that he was a doughnut - ich bin ein Berliner (he should have said ich bin Berliner - but never mind, the crowd understood. On 12 June 1987, Reagan memorably asked Mr Gorbachev to tear down this wall.
The crossing point was permanently closed the day following the commencement of the construction of the wall and remained so until 22 December 1989 when the first person to cross was Helmut Kohl, the West German chancellor who was met on the eastern side by Hans Modrow, the East German prime minister. The wall was pulled down here in 1990. I was there in April 1990, I wish I had been as keen on filming things as I am now because the only record I now have of this event is in my memory!
Traffic no longer passes under The Brandenburg Gate and the Pariser Platz to its east is a pedestrian zone which flanked by the Adlon Hotel and the French embassy does somewhat give the area the feel of the beginning of the twentieth century.
And today you can walk right through it as though it was never the second most closely guarded border in the world!
Brandenburg Concerto No4-1 BWV1049 - Classical Whimsical by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Contrary to what I say in the video, the gate is 26 metres high! I think I was confusing depth with height!
I'd always sworn to touch that thing during my life time. And, while I was in East Berlin, just having applied for a day visa to Westberlin, they opened up the thing. Must have been around the 20th of December 1989. We heard they were barely doing any checks, so I said to my then girlfriend "Let's go to Westberlin tonight".
And at that moment, we approached the gate, its huge roof hovering over me - and I touched the gate. For the first time in my life. How often had I been pondering on the platform at the other side, late at night, looking at that gate and wondering why I couldn't go there..
So we went to my favorite pub down in Bleibtreustraße, had a drink and returned to East Berlin without a problem. A few days later, I used my visa and went to Westberlin "legally". Crazy things at the time..
That is an absolutely fantastic story Hans. I remember being in East Berlin in 1982 and looking at the Brandenburg Gate from the other side. It looked so close and one could see over the Wall there as it was lower. Of course, the barbed wire fences in front of the Wall were very clear. I was in East Berlin several times, including being detained in October 1982. For me, walking through the one way check points in April 1990 was amazing - it was then I saw that the DDR had really crumbled!
I liked this video very much. I never realized how beautiful the Brandenburg Gate really is.
Thanks Valerie!
walked away at 4:19 thinking, such a good ending.
comes back minutes later
"wtf its still going?"
Love the night lights in the modern incarnation... Handy bit of editing Alan! 👍🇦🇺
I thought that worked rather well Phil - which is why I have used it now in several videos!
You should know though, a Berliner is a jelly donut not a sausage. However, in the Berlin area it was appropriate to say it the way he did.
Brilliant and beautiful video!! Thank you 😊
Thanks for watching Mari!
Was there 2004. Amazing piece of History
thanks for the video! beautiful music too
One arch! Seen so many things...so many peoples...so many stories hidden with her.👌👌
Thanks for this video. I just watched this while in front of the Brandenburg gate
Really Good!!!
Gorgeous video
Thanks Gilda!
I think you've got the height of the Gate wrong. Most sources list it as about 26 metres high not 1026 cm (just over 10 metres). If you want to bring the story up to date, it was vandalised with orange paint being thrown over the columns facing Unter den Linden in autumn 2023 ( I could clearly see the remains of this damage in December 2023) but it's now been cleaned off (April 2024, no signs of the orange paint remain)
Thanks for pointing this out. I don't know what I was thinking when I did this but it is something like 1,026cm deep not deep. As you point out, it is 26 metres high. The advantage of doing videos is that I can update them or add to the story when I find out more, so I will bear this in mind when I do an update! I was last there in July 2023, I don't think I will be able to make it to Berlin this year!
Great history 👏 👌
Some really interesting historical facts in the first half of this video, thanks for sharing.
Do you know if Napoleon publically displayed his trophy in Paris or if it was kept out of sight?
And the second half was not much good?
@@HistoryonUA-cam
No not at all. I should have structured the comment differently. I meant that I wasn't aware of some of the historical facts you mentioned early on in the video.
The entire video was interesting 👍
Actually, “Ich bin ein Berliner,” translates to, “I am a donut.” Not sausage.
sounds about right - they are all useless donuts 😂😂😂
Ich bin ein Berliner is right lol
actually, it translates to "I am a Berliner", and "Berliner" also happens to be a particular type of donut. In Berlin, they don't call these donuts "Berliners" though, so there would have been no confusion
FALSE: ua-cam.com/video/Pnv0NJLOkfQ/v-deo.html
Good stuff
Awesome
what a neat history it has with napoleon and two world wars .
Germany was so advanced compared to other countries ...
Yes it is amazing place
I like the music 🎶 I feel peace ✌
That music is the Brandenburg Concerto Number Four, by Johann Sebastian Bach. He wrote six of them altogether.
beautiful buy my right ear feels lonely
No stereo?
@@HistoryonUA-cam im not sure but your voice doesnt sound centered, you can hear this especially with headphones
Soon possible travel arrangements for this trip
This gate has witnessed the best of mankind and the worst of mankind.
Nada além de lindo
Lindo
Huh, super interesting
Thanks Carter!
I wonder how much disinfectant was used in Germany once the Russians moved out?
Lost Dope a lot I’m sure
Berlin who is in the country
There are some rather ugly buildings on each side of it now. Does anyone know what they are?
US embassy
00:36
A symbol of intolerance?
Can you verify that with a source? Or do German textbooks actually say that?
No no its a symbol of german unity and power
soo..... what is it more... a symbol for peace or the symbol of the nazzis ?
How is this a symbol of the Nazis?
More like bore ragnarok
Why