Bismarck Monument (Hamburg)
| Bismarck-Denkmal | |
View of the monument from the southwest in 2004
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| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
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| Location | Hamburg, Germany |
| Designer | Architect: Johann Emil Schaudt Sculptor: Hugo Lederer |
| Material | Granite |
| Height | 35 m (115 ft) |
| Opening date | 2 June 1906 |
| Dedicated to | Otto von Bismarck |
The Bismarck Monument (German: Bismarck-Denkmal) in Hamburg is a memorial sculpture located in the St. Pauli quarter dedicated to Otto von Bismarck. It is one of 250 memorials to Bismarck worldwide and is the largest and probably best-known of these Bismarck towers. The monument stands near the jetties of Hamburg port on the Elbhöhe, today a local recreation area. The architect was Johann Emil Schaudt; the sculptor was Hugo Lederer.
History
The site of the monument was previously occupied by the Elbpavillon restaurant which was removed in 1901. Mayor Johann Georg Mönckeberg established a citizens' commission to erect the monument at the site.
The Bismarck Monument cost 500,000 Goldmarks,[1] and construction finished in 1906.[2]
Architecture
The monument is approximately 35 m (115 ft) high, weighs 600 t (590 long tons; 660 short tons), and is the world's largest Bismarck monument.[1][2]
The base of the monument houses 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").[2][3] The origin of this painting is unknown.
Designers created a large network of catacombs beneath the monument. During the years 1939 to 1940, they became an air-raid shelter offering protection for up to 650 people.[2] The architect's intent for the catacombs remain unknown however they, and the entire monument interior, are no longer accessible for safety reasons. During the 1970s a soldier who served with the British army during the occupation in Germany discovered a tunnel beneath the Bismarck memorial while in Hamburg which led to a Nazi hideout. He contacted the Daily Mirror newspaper and they contacted the Burgermeister in Hamburg . After viewing the tunnel as the soldier had just described it, the tunnel was sealed.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
Literature
- Jörg Schilling: Distanz halten - Das Hamburger Bismarckdenkmal und die Monumentalität der Moderne, Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen 2006, ISBN 3-8353-0006-7
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bismarck-Denkmal, Hamburg. |
- Articles with dead external links from February 2014
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- Bismarck family
- Buildings and structures in Hamburg-Mitte
- Visitor attractions in Hamburg
- Bismarck monuments
- Monuments and memorials in Germany
- Art Nouveau architecture in Hamburg
- Art Nouveau sculptures and memorials
