| Photo Information |
Copyright: Joe Goff (papajoehermit)
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 164 W: 60 N: 244]](http://i1.treklens.com/misc/g-g-g.gif) (1387) |
| Genre: Places |
| Medium: Color |
| Date Taken: 1966-02 |
| Categories: Architecture |
| Exposure: f/5.6, 1/250 seconds |
| Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop |
| Date Submitted: 2009-07-27 17:16 |
| Viewed: 162 |
| Points: 6 |
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
I used sepia tone in Photoshop from the original black and white print of this view of the Brandenburg Gate from the west side of the wall hoping it would add a little to the age and vintage of this phtograph.
The Brandenburg Gate consists of twelve Doric columns, six to each side, forming five passageways. Citizens originally were allowed to use only the outermost two. Atop the gate is the Quadriga, a chariot drawn by four horses driven by Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory.
The Gate's design is based upon the Propylaea, the gateway to the Acropolis in Athens, Greece and is consistent with Berlin's history of architectural classicism (first, Baroque, and then neo-Palladian). The Gate was the first "Athens on the River Spree" by architect Karl Gotthard von Langhans. The capital Quadriga was sculpted by Johann Gottfried Schadow.
The Brandenburg Gate's design has remained essentially unchanged since its completion even as it has played different political roles in German history. After the 1806 Prussian defeat at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, Napoleon took the Quadriga to Paris. After Napoleon's defeat in 1814 and the Prussian occupation of Paris by General Ernst von Pfuel, the Quadriga was restored to Berlin and Victoria's wreath of oak leaves was supplemented with a new symbol of Prussian power, the Iron Cross. The Quadriga faces east, as it did when it was originally installed in 1793. At that time, only the royal family was allowed to pass through the central archway, as well as members of the Pfuel family from 1814 to 1919.
When the Nazis ascended to power they used the Gate as a party symbol. The Gate survived World War II and was one of the few structures standing in the Pariser Platz ruins in 1945 (another being the Academy of Fine Arts). The gate was badly damaged with holes in the columns from bullets and nearby explosions. Following Germany's surrender and the end of the war, the governments of East Berlin and West Berlin restored it in a joint effort. The holes were patched, and were visible for many years following the war.
Vehicles and pedestrians could again travel freely through the gate, until August 1961 when the Berlin Wall was erected. The wall and its fortified death strip ran just west of the gate, cutting off access from West Berlin and the "baby Wall" on the Eastern side rendered it off limits to East Berliners as well, until the wall's demolition in 1989.
In 1990, the Quadriga was removed from the gate as part of renovation work carried out by the East German authorities.
On December 21, 2000, the Brandenburg Gate was privately refurbished at a cost of six million dollars (U.S.).
On October 3, 2002, the twelfth anniversary of German Reunification, the Brandenburg Gate was once again reopened following extensive refurbishment.
The Brandenburg Gate is now again closed for vehicle traffic, and much of Pariser Platz has been turned into a cobblestone pedestrian zone.
Camera: 35mm Nikon F2; lens: 35mm Nikkor; film: Kodak Tri-X 400ASA. Filter: Yellow. |
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