The Siegestor ( en, Victory Gate) in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

is a three-arched memorial arch, crowned with a statue of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

with a lion-

quadriga A () is a car or chariot drawn by four horses abreast and favoured for chariot racing in Classical Antiquity and the Roman Empire until the Late Middle Ages. The word derives from the Latin contraction of , from ': four, and ': yoke. The four- ...

. The monument was originally dedicated to the glory of the

Bavarian army The Bavarian Army was the army of the Electorate (1682–1806) and then Kingdom (1806–1919) of Bavaria. It existed from 1682 as the standing army of Bavaria until the merger of the military sovereignty (''Wehrhoheit'') of Bavaria into that of ...

. Since its restoration following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, it now stands as a reminder to peace. The Siegestor is 21 meters high, 24 m wide, and 12 m deep. It is located between the

Ludwig Maximilian University The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

and the Ohmstraße, where the

Ludwigstraße The Ludwigstraße in Munich is one of the city's four royal avenues next to the Brienner Straße, the Maximilianstraße and the Prinzregentenstraße. Principal was King Ludwig I of Bavaria, the avenue is named in his honour. The city's grande ...

(south) ends and the

Leopoldstraße Leopoldstraße is a street in the Munich districts Maxvorstadt, Schwabing and Milbertshofen. It is a major boulevard, and the main street of the Schwabing district. It is a continuation of Ludwigstraße, the boulevard of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, n ...

(north) begins. It thus sits at the boundary between the two Munich districts of

Maxvorstadt Maxvorstadt ( Central Bavarian: ''Maxvorstod'') is a central borough of Munich, Bavaria, Germany and forms the Stadtbezirk (borough) 3 Maxvorstadt. Since 1992, this borough comprises the former boroughs 5, 6 and 7 (Maxvorstadt-Universität, Maxvo ...

and

Schwabing Schwabing is a borough in the northern part of Munich, the capital of the German state of Bavaria. It is part of the city borough 4 (Schwabing-West) and the city borough 12 (Schwabing-Freimann). The population of Schwabing is estimated about 100 ...

History

The arch was commissioned by King

Ludwig I of Bavaria en, Louis Charles Augustus , image = Joseph Karl Stieler - King Ludwig I in his Coronation Robes - WGA21796.jpg , caption = Portrait by Joseph Stieler, 1825 , succession=King of Bavaria , reign = , coronation ...

,Gavriel D. Rosenfeld, ''Munich and Memory: Architecture, Monuments, and the Legacy of the Third Reich'', (University of California Press, 2000), 117 designed by Friedrich von Gärtner and completed by

Eduard Mezger Friedrich Eduard Mezger (13 February 1807 – 16 September 1894) was a Bavarian architect, painter, professor, and a high civil officer of the royal buildings administration, called ''Oberbaurat'' (literally "top architect"). Biography Mezger ...

in 1852. The marble

was sculpted by

Johann Martin von Wagner Johann Martin von Wagner (born as Johann Martin Wagner; 24 June 1777 – 8 August 1858) was a German painter, sculptor and art collector. Through the donation of his extensive art collection the Martin von Wagner Museum of the University of W ...

, artistic advisor to Ludwig and a professor at the University of Würzburg. Lions were likely used in the quadriga, instead of the more usual and more ''boring'' horses, because the lion was a heraldic charge of the

House of Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a German dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including Bavaria, the Palatinate, Holland and Zeeland, Sweden (with Finland), Denmark, Norway, Hungary (with Romania), Bohemia, the Electorate ...

, the ruling family of the Bavarian monarchy. The arch was originally dedicated to the glory of the Bavarian army (''Dem Bayerischen Heere''). Today, the Siegestor is a

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

and reminder to peace. After sustaining heavy damage in

it was to be demolished in July 1945, however, the arch was reconstructed and restored only partially, in a manner similar to the conservation of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche in Berlin. The new inscription on the back side by

Wilhelm Hausenstein Wilhelm Hausenstein (17 June 1882 – 3 June 1957) was a German politician, writer, journalist, art critic, historian and diplomat. He was the first German ambassador to France following World War II. Life and career Early life Hausenstein was ...

reads ''Dem Sieg geweiht, vom Krieg zerstört, zum Frieden mahnend'', "Dedicated to victory, destroyed by war, urging peace". In the early 21st century, the remaining statues were meticulously cleaned and restored. München Siegestor

In popular culture

In the second of the German language film series, '' Heimat 2'' by

Edgar Reitz Edgar Reitz (born 1 November 1932) is a German filmmaker and Professor of Film at the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung (State University of Design) in Karlsruhe. He is best-known for his internationally acclaimed '' Heimat film series'' (1 ...

, Evelyne and Ansgar meet and talk by the monument, on which the inscription honoring peace may be seen. In the ninth season of ''

The Amazing Race ''The Amazing Race'' is an adventure reality game show franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. The ''Race'' is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in fore ...

'', the final Pit Stop for the third leg (a double length leg) was in front of the monument, where the last team to arrive was eliminated from ''The Amazing Race''.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 48, 09, 08, N, 11, 34, 55, E, region:DE-BY_type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in Munich Neoclassical architecture in Munich Triumphal arches in Germany Terminating vistas in Germany Buildings and structures completed in 1852 Maxvorstadt Registered historic buildings and monuments in Bavaria 1852 establishments in Bavaria Gates Munich