The Niederwald monument (german: Niederwalddenkmal) is a monument located in the Niederwald, near

Rüdesheim am Rhein Rüdesheim am Rhein is a German winemaking town in the Rhine Gorge, and part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site in this region. It lies in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt, Hessen. Known as Rüdesheim, i ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

, built between 1871 and 1883 to commemorate the

Unification of Germany The unification of Germany (, ) was the process of building the modern German nation state with federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without multinational Austria), which commenced on 18 August 1866 with adoption of t ...

. The monument is located within the

Rhine Gorge The Rhine Gorge is a popular name for the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, a 65 km section of the Rhine between Koblenz and Rüdesheim in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse in Germany. It was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage S ...

, a larger

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

. It overlooks the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...

Valley and the town of Bingen on the far side.

History

The monument was constructed to commemorate the founding of the German Empire in 1871 after the end of the Franco-Prussian War. The first stone was laid on 16 September 1871 by Kaiser

Wilhelm I William I or Wilhelm I (german: Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 2 January 1861 and German Emperor from 18 January 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the ...

. The sculptor was

Johannes Schilling Johannes Schilling (23 June 1828 in Mittweida – 21 March 1910 in Klotzsche near Dresden) was a German sculptor. Life and work Johannes Schilling was the youngest of five children. A year after his birth, his family moved to Dresden, where he ...

, and the architect was

Karl Weißbach Johann Karl Robert Weißbach (1841–1905) was a German architect and Professor. Life and work After graduating from secondary school, he completed an apprenticeship in the building trade, while attending the local Baugewerkschule (Building ...

. The total cost of the work is estimated at one million gold marks. The monument was inaugurated on 28 September 1883. The tall monument represents the union of all Germans.

Description

Structure

The central figure is the tall

Germania Germania ( ; ), also called Magna Germania (English: ''Great Germania''), Germania Libera (English: ''Free Germania''), or Germanic Barbaricum to distinguish it from the Roman province of the same name, was a large historical region in north-c ...

figure. Her right hand holds the recovered crown, and her left holds the

Imperial Sword The Imperial Sword ( la, Gladius Imperatoria, german: Reichsschwert) is one of the four most important parts of the Imperial Regalia (''Reichskleinodien'') of the Holy Roman Empire. During a coronation, it was given to the emperor along with the ...

Beneath Germania is a large

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

depicting Kaiser Wilhelm I riding a horse with the nobility, army commanders, and soldiers. The relief has the lyrics to "

Die Wacht am Rhein "" (, ''The Watch on the Rhine'') is a German patriotic anthem. The song's origins are rooted in the historical French–German enmity, and it was particularly popular in Germany during the Franco-Prussian War and the First World War. The origi ...

" (Watch on the Rhine) engraved. The right side of the monument is considered the "peace statue", while the left is considered the "war statue."

Inscription

The monument's main inscription is engraved on the pedestal of the Germania statue: :

Location

The is a broad hill on the right bank of the Rhine located next to the tributary

Wisper The Wisper is a river in Hesse, Germany, right tributary of the Rhine. Its source is in the western Taunus, Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis district, near a small village named Wisper (municipality Heidenrod). It flows southwest through a densely for ...

, opposite

Bingen am Rhein Bingen am Rhein () is a town in the Mainz-Bingen district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The settlement's original name was Bingium, a Celtic word that may have meant "hole in the rock", a description of the shoal behind the ''Mäuseturm'', k ...

. The hill forms the southwestern apex of the

Taunus The Taunus is a mountain range in Hesse, Germany, located north of Frankfurt. The tallest peak in the range is '' Großer Feldberg'' at 878 m; other notable peaks are '' Kleiner Feldberg'' (825 m) and '' Altkönig'' (798 m). The Taunus range spa ...

range. Its summit is covered by a dense forest of oak and

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engl ...

. Its southern and western sides, which descend sharply to

and Assmannshausen, are covered with

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyard ...

s. The monument is located at the edge of the forest, on the crest of the hill above Rüdesheim.

Access

The Niederwalddenkmal can be reached by

gondola lift A gondola lift is a means of cable transport and type of aerial lift which is supported and propelled by cables from above. It consists of a loop of steel wire rope that is strung between two stations, sometimes over intermediate ...

(formerly a

rack railway A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with t ...

), from Rüdesheim to Niederwald, by car, by chairlift from Assmannshausen, or by trails on foot.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in 1887 Landmarks in Germany Monuments and memorials in Germany Buildings and structures in Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis Tourist attractions in Hesse Sculptures of men in Germany Statues in Germany Outdoor sculptures in Germany Rheingau William I, German Emperor