Brandenburg Gate: Memorial to Division and Unity I History Stories Special

Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate is a national symbol and one of Berlin’s best-known landmarks. Like no other structure, it reflects Germany’s turbulent past.
Why does this edifice captivate Germans? This History Stories Special delves into the gate’s eventful history and reveals its innermost secrets. We feature people whose lives on both sides of the Iron Curtain were connected to the Brandenburg Gate in a special way.

00:00 What is the Brandenburg Gate?
03:35 The Gate during the cold war
09:05 How the Gate came to be in the 18th century
11:20 The Gate from the inside
13:30 How Napoleon took the Quadriga to France
15:50 The Gate between Emperors and Revolutionists in the 19th and 20th century
19:20 The Gate during the Nazi Era and the second world war
23:32 The Gate during the cold war part 2
35:40 The Gate during the fall of the Berlin Wall
39:40 The Gate gets renovated
40:58 The Gate today

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Brandenburg Gate in Berlin: Landmark and symbol. The gate stands for the divided history of Germany and of Europe. Historic events have taken place here. What the gate represents has constantly evolved, and it’s often been misused by those in power. It’s a symbol of division and of unity.

While the Brandenburg Gate is very recognisable, few know anything about it. We delve into its history and uncover its secrets. 6:00 AM: The German capital awakens. It’s still quiet at the gate. Only a few people venture out into the government district this early. Among them is restorer Andreas Rendmeister.

Today, he’s inspecting his most beloved object. Carrying out the gate’s annual check-up. (Andreas Rendmeister, Restorer) “When we suspect something is wrong, we can check by tapping to see if it sounds hollow, for example to see whether an added segment is coming away.

We’re also looking for parts that could fall off and be a danger to visitors. This is war damage that was repaired after the war and has since cracked. We’ve already removed a bit that was added last time and we’ll put a new stone graft here. Here’s a little more damage, typical weathering damage.

When you’re so close, you can really see everything that’s been done to the gate.” The gate, standing 20 metres high, is topped with a goddess and four horses. (Andreas Rendmeister, Restorer) “Now we’re at eye level with the Quadriga. This is no longer our working area, but we always come up here because

It’s so spectacular. The view, the Reichstag, the Tiergarten, the city waking up, it’s magnificent!” Millions of tourists from around the world visit Germany’s most famous architectural monument every year and with it Pariser Platz. Framed by the famous luxury hotel Adlon, embassies and banks. The Holocaust Memorial is also in the vicinity.

Over the past three decades, the gate in the centre of the city has become the quintessential backdrop for all kinds of celebrations and political demonstrations. The enduring fascination with the Brandenburg Gate can be attributed to a single historical event. Berlin, August 1961: one city two systems.

The Brandenburg Gate is at the junction between Socialist East Germany, the German Democratic Republic, or GDR, and capitalist West Germany, the Federal Republic. The border is secured by the 3rd Brigade of the East German People’s Police. The deputy commander is Günter Ganßauge. August the 12th is a Saturday, but Ganßauge is on duty.

(Günter Ganßauge, former GDR border guard) “That morning I officiated at 2 socialist weddings.” Even weddings were among Ganßauge’s duties. (Günter Ganßauge, former GDR border guard) “Then word came that we had to be at headquarters at six. There we were told tonight the border will be closed.”

On August the 13th, 1961, shortly after midnight, the GDR began sealing the border between East and West Berlin. (Günter Ganßauge, former GDR border guard) “Then the border crossings that were to remain open were announced, including the Brandenburg Gate. Reinforcements and materials were on the way. Now of course the problem started.

GDR Citizens couldn’t crossover, but West Berliners could. That wasn’t easy. Sometimes there were couples and we had to say, sorry, you stay here. You’re an East German citizen and are no longer allowed to cross, but you can go.” At the sector border between East and West Berlin,

Rolls of barbed wire and later walls were erected. In East Berlin, Siegfried Strehlow slept through the construction of the Wall until his neighbour woke him up on the morning of August the 13th, (Siegfried Strehlow, Contemporary witness) “He rang early and said Strehlow, the Wall is being built. I said, what’s going on?

And then I thought, how do I get across now? Because I didn’t want to stay in the GDR.” Strehlow wasted no time. He put on his best suit and set out. (Siegfried Strehlow, Contemporary witness) “I walked from Friedrichstraße along Unter den Linden towards

The Brandenburg Gate and then along the border to the narrowest point. I approached the checkpoint. I had a Socialist Youth Group badge on. I don’t know why – I picked it up somewhere. Standing behind guards with machine guns, I addressed the East German people, saying this is just a protective

Measure that our government has taken to protect us from the capitalists. This is all in accordance with socialism, and while I was talking, I kept moving towards the West. There were armed guards on the left and on the right and I was just behind them.

And then one started running and then the other. But I always won the 3000 meter (race) in East Berlin, so I was faster than they were. I quickly reached West Berlin across the border. Everyone applauded in the West and in the East they were furious.” Suddenly turning his back on the GDR.

The Brandenburg Gate initially remained open as a heavily guarded border crossing, but that didn’t last long. One day later, on August the 14th, Ganßauge received a radio message. (Günter Ganßauge, former GDR border guard) “I got the order to close the border. I was allowed to take two men to assist me.

It was complicated. You’re on a wide road and you have to say this is the border and there are thousands of people facing you with all their rage directed at you.” Water cannons were deployed to secure the operation. (Günter Ganßauge, former GDR border guard) “I could hear the machine starting up.

I said get to that post. Hold on tight. All three of us were soaked through, but we held on so tight that we weren’t washed away to West Berlin. That’s how we got the first post erected. And then came the roles of barbed wire.”

For the GDR leadership, it was important that the wall be built not by soldiers of the National People’s Army, but by workers known as the combat groups of the working class. (Ilka-Sascha Kowalzcuk, Historian) “It was these combat groups with weapons in hand that were symbolically deployed in front of the Brandenburg Gate,

Protecting the population from the evil imperialists. And almost every young person in the GDR grew up with these images. The Brandenburg Gate was a symbol used by the ruling party to present the GDR as a peaceful state.” It wasn’t the first time the Brandenburg Gate marked a border.

At the end of the 18th century, it was one of 18 city gates across Berlin. At the time, it was a functional building on the Arterial Road to Brandenburg. Hence its name. The functional building would soon be replaced by a more prominent and representative gate.

Records of the planning of the new gate can be found at the Secret State Archives of Prussian Cultural Heritage. With its new design, Prussia’s King Friedrich Wilhelm II sought to commemorate a recent victorious campaign in the Netherlands. (Zitha Pöthe-Elevi, Historian) “Carl Gotthard Langhans was commissioned in 1788 to build

The Brandenburg Gate, modelling it on the Propylaia of Athens.” The entrance gate to the Acropolis symbolizes Athens. Shrewd alliance policy, military strength and rich culture. Quite the role model. (Zitha Pöthe-Elevi, Historian) “Friedrich Wilhelm II saw himself as the bringer of peace,

As Pericles, who brings about a golden age, and so he had an appropriate entrance designed for his new Athens on the Spree.” Architect Langhans oriented his work on classical structures, but his gate was constructed not from marble but from sandstone, a more affordable and more porous material.

The king demanded a wider gateway with taller and narrower columns. The reliefs show scenes from Greek mythology. The Gate is crowned with the Quadriga by sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow. The Quadriga shows Victoria, the goddess of victory, bringing peace to the city of Berlin. The triumph of peace.

(Zitha Pöthe-Elevi, Historian) “There’s an empty space on the Tiergarten side on the level of the neoclassical relief, where the word “Friedenstor”, peace gate, was originally going to be.” That never came to pass. After its completion in 1791, the Brandenburg Gate was handed over unceremoniously for its original purpose as a city gate.

A way out, a way in. Someone who knows the Brandenburg Gate well is Frank Prietz. The engineer was involved in the gates extensive renovation at the turn of the century and has intimate knowledge of every aspect of the gate, including the parts hardly anyone gets to see.

Only a select few are allowed to enter these rooms. The passage through the store rooms of the northern gatehouse leads to a well-kept secret. Getting there involves navigating dusty, winding chambers and slippery roofs. Only a few people know that the Brandenburg Gate’s roof structure is

Not composed of solid stone blocks, but is hollow on the inside. Concealed behind the neoclassical relief is a 250 square metre room known as the Soldiers Chamber. The thin columns could not have supported a solid stone roof. To fulfil the King’s specifications, architect Langhans had to be inventive.

(Frank Prietz, Engineer) “A special feature is hidden here under this wooden floor. Langhans designed a ring anchor that tightened all 12 columns of the Brandenburg Gate like a belt, ensuring the stability of the gate.” The gate’s stability has to be continuously maintained. That’s because its foundations were damaged during the construction

Of Berlin’s sewer system in 1884. Rendering the gate sensitive to vibrations. (Frank Prietz, Engineer) “Measurements have shown that buses cause the most serious vibrations to the gate. Which is why today, buses no longer pass through the gate and traffic is banned.” Historical events also shook the gate.

On October 27th, 1806, for the first time, the gate became the centre of world politics. Napoleon Bonaparte defeated Prussia at Jena and Auerstedt and marched into Berlin with his entourage. (Daniel Schönpflug, Historian) “Napoleon was the first to ceremoniously enter Berlin through the Brandenburg Gate to celebrate his triumph.”

(Manfred Görtemaker, Historian) “When Napoleon marched through the Brandenburg Gate, he was accompanied by an art expert who was tasked with identifying possible spoils of war. This rooted art would include the Quadriga.” The French Emperor and the Prussian charioteer. He packed her into boxes and stole her away to Paris. To the Louvre.

(Daniel Schönpflug, Historian) “The Quadriga was never actually put on display in Paris, it was just left to rot in wooden crates. When the Prussians conquered Paris in 1814 and defeated Napoleon, they found these crates. And of course, immediately decided to bring the Quadriga back to Berlin.”

The homecoming of the lost goddess of victory at the Rhine, she finally reaches Prussian territory. Before the quadrica was reinstalled, a small yet significant modification was made. Master builder Carl Friedrich Schinkel was commissioned with immortalising the triumph over Napoleon on the statue.

Victoria was given the Iron Cross, the Prussian Medal of valor for soldiers of the Wars of Liberation. (Manfred Görtemaker, Historian) “The Laurel wreath, which is of course a classical symbol of peace, became an oak wreath. And within this oak wreath Schinkel mounted an iron cross. A Prussian eagle was placed on top.

These changes made by Schinkel changed the symbolism of the Brandenburg Gate from a peace gate to a victory gate.” The square in front of the gate was renamed. In 1871, following his coronation in Versailles, the first German emperor made his entrance through the Brandenburg Gate.

The gate would also become an important symbol for the Hohenzollerns. Only the emperor and his entourage were allowed to use the central passage, thus called the Emperor’s thoroughfare. The beginning of World War I saw initially victorious troops marching through the gate. Four years later, with the war long lost,

Striking workers and mutinous soldiers headed to the gate. (Daniel Schönpflug, Historian) “The revolutionaries in 1919 naturally had the Brandenburg Gates in their focus because it was a manifestation of the Kaiser’s empire. The revolution had to attack and occupy all the places which represented the old power.”

On November 9th, 1918, the gate was a fiercely contested symbol. First, revolutionary soldiers gained access, hoisting their red flags and occupying the area. Government troops later seized control, stationing their machine guns next to the Quadriga. From there, they took aim at the insurgents and brutally cut down the revolution.

The 1920s brought change to Berlin and the Pariser Platz. The Brandenburg Gate allowed the passage of cars which transformed the area from a mere city gate into a social hub. Aided by the presence of the prestigious Hotel Adlon. (Daniel Schönpflug, Historian) “The Adlon also brought high society to the Brandenburg Gate.

The hotel was frequented by the most distinguished circles, which naturally created a social scene around the Brandenburg Gate. The connection between the Adlon and the Brandenburg Gate undoubtedly contributed to the glamour of the location.” Pariser Platz and the Brandenburg Gate evolved into the showcase of Berlin, attracting tourists and becoming a

Popular meeting place. Over the years, the sandstone structure has suffered extensive damage due to the struggles of revolution, traffic, weather and air pollution. In 1926, a complete renovation was in order. (Andreas Rendmeister, Restorer) “The higher we get, the looser it becomes. These bits here ’cause us a lot of trouble.

Over many decades, centuries even, and through wars, there’s been a lot of damage here, which means that many of these have broken off, being replaced, and glued back on. We look over them every year to make sure that they’re solid, because it would be a disaster if a part that weighs

Maybe 100 grams worth of four, that could be deadly. They have to be 100% secure. Retail hockey. We also check these metal hooks. We haven’t had problems with them so far. The hooks are for flags. They’ve not been used in recent times.

I think the last time they were used was 80 years ago.” January 30th, 1933 The National Socialists come to power and Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany. The Nazis assert their new position with a torchlight procession through the Brandenburg Gate. The gate once again becomes a place of political representation,

With the Nazis using it extensively for their propaganda, like when the Legion Condor marched in, Wehrmacht units that fought covertly for Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Albert Speer is tasked with reshaping Berlin into the world capital, Germania. The Brandenburg Gate is to play a minor role in this grandiose vision

As part of the East West Axis, a gigantic parade route that was ceremoniously opened in 1939. On Hitler’s 50th birthday, German soldiers marched through the Brandenburg Gate for the first time on their way out of the city, in another symbolic use of the gate. (Manfred Görtemaker, Historian) “They are marching outwards, demonstrating

That the Germans have the right to pursue an aggressive foreign policy and wage war. In 1942, the tide of the war had shifted and Berlin was now in the sights of the Allied bombers. The East West Axis and the Brandenburg Gate were covered with camouflage nets.

The Gate and the Quadriga were in danger. However, dismantling the Goddess of Victory would have sent a clear message to the civilian population. (Manfred Görtemaker, Historian) “The Nazis couldn’t afford to do that, so they decided against it, preferring to make casts so the quadriga could be restored once victory was achieved.”

The plaster casts were stored in a secure and secret location. April 1945: The Battle of Berlin was brutal and hard fought. Soviet forces took Pariser Platz on May 2nd. (Daniel Schönpflug, Historian) “Apparently, the retreating German army wanted to avoid the Quadriga falling into enemy hands again, so they destroyed it themselves.

Young war photographer Yevgeny Khaldei arrived at Pariser Platz with the Red Army. (Yevgeny Khaldei, 2002, photographer) “Here’s a picture taken at the Brandenburg Gate on the morning of May 2nd. You can see a gathering of soldiers tanks. Some were crying, others were hugging and kissing,

Others were drinking vodka and I was in the middle of it all and said, guys, let’s take a nice photo. This photo is staged. I couldn’t have just taken a photo of the soldiers as they were. I wanted a nice panorama. Berlin, Victory, Basta. The photo went around the world.

It was in every paper. It was the end of the war.” In the 1960s, Yevgeny Khaldei returned one more time to the scene of triumph. (Yevgeny Khaldei, 2002, photographer) I have three flags that I brought with me from Moscow. I hoisted one at Temple Health Airport, the second

Over the Brandenburg Gate and the 3rd at the Reichstag.” The photos go around the world, images that made history. However, it was Polish soldiers who conquered the Brandenburg Gate and 1st hoisted their flag there, just without a photographer. The victors celebrated their triumph by marching through the gate,

As seen here with Soviet Marshall Zhukov. Berlin was divided with the Brandenburg Gate and Pariser Platz, both in the Soviet sector. But passage through was still possible. The sector boundary lay on the other side of the Brandenburg Gate, with the Reichstag in the West and the Brandenburg Gate in the east.

Soon there was marching again. In 1950, the Communist GDR invited the youth of the world to the World Youth Games. (Daniel Schönpflug, Historian) “Unter den Linden had to be made beautiful and the Brandenburg Gate. So what was left at the Quadriga was simply pushed off

Onto pariser plats below in a somewhat disrespectful action, rendering it useless for all time.” This iconoclasm left shadows Quadriga, a heap of scrap metal. But miraculously, one of the horse’s heads survived. Today it can be seen at Berlin’s Märkisches Museum. The red flag now flew over the gate.

In 1953, striking workers expressed their anger towards the government of the GDR by climbing the gate, tearing down the Soviet flag and burning it. (Manfred Görtemaker, Historian) “This was clearly in favour of German reunification and we’re better for this protest to take place than at the Brandenburg Gate.”

As the tensions rose, so did the border controls. In the mid 1950s, East Berlin surprisingly decided to restore the Brandenburg Gate, including the Quadriga, to its original form. But the plaster casts made during the war were stored in a secret location in West Berlin, and the West Berlin Senate refused to

Loan them to the communists in the East. A year long struggle ensured over the charioteer and her horses. (Günter Ganßauge, former GDR border guard) “West Berlin refused to loan the casts. They said if it’s going to be rebuilt, it should be a joint project to show the world that Berlin is one city,

But it wasn’t one city at all. It was just propaganda.” Finally, in 1958, amid a media frenzy, the unassembled new quadriga was transported through W Berlin to the eastern part of the city. (Daniel Schönpflug, Historian) “The quadriga was first exhibited on the Pariser Platz so

That the Berliners could see it up close again, then the East Berlin regime felt the need to modify it. The Quadriga disappeared at night and came back with a small change. The Iron Cross and the Prussian Eagle had been removed.” The GDR leadership saw the eagle and cross as symbols of Prussian militarism.

The West Berlin press seethed. There were even rumours that East Berlin mounted the quadriga on the gate the wrong way around. (Manfred Görtemaker, Historian) “The Quadriga always looks from West to east. It was never the other way round, not even during the East German time. It’s an urban legend.

It was never that way round.” (Günter Ganßauge, former GDR border guard) “What would the Prussian king have said if the horses turn their rear ends in his direction? They always stood like that.” In East Berlin, there were other concerns with millions of citizens leaving the country.

In July 1961 alone, 30,000 people fled from East to West Berlin. The GDR was threatened with bleeding out and rumours began circulating that the east would soon intervene militarily. (Hope Harrison, Historian) “Everyone was maybe there’s gonna be a nuclear war, over in Berlin. It’s easy to forget that now.

But Berlin was the centre of the world at that time.” In the summer of 1961, Hollywood director Billy Wilder was in Berlin filming his classic Cold War satire ‘123’. Wilders Film was a contemporary tongue in cheek, fast depicting life in the divided city. Let’s go back to last June.

Considering the abnormal situation of a divided city, life in Berlin was more or less normal. Traffic flowed freely through the Brandenburg Gate, and it wasn’t really too much trouble to pass one side of the Iron Curtain to the other. Some of the East German police were rude and suspicious.

Others were suspicious and rude. But what looked like the Brandenburg Gate was, in part a film set. Wilder had to stop shooting in Berlin and rebuild the gate on the Bavaria film studio lot in Munich. Historical events had caught up with fiction. East Berlin closed its borders on August the 13th.

West-Berlin Mayor Willy Brandt expected a show of solidarity in the form of a visit from the US president. But the president took his time. (Hope Harrison, Historian) “Kennedy was in fact relieved and Kennedy felt this was not an aggressive move. And so he actually said,

A wall is a hell of a lot better than a war.” Two years later, the US president finally arrived, receiving an enthusiastic welcome from the citizens of West Berlin. (Ilka-Sascha Kowalzcuk, Historian) “Of course, this was a thorn in the side of the East German

Communists, so they tried to upset the atmosphere in West Berlin by hanging red flags all over the Brandenburg Gate, which you otherwise could look through into East Berlin. At the same time creating a propaganda image with the red flags for the east.”

(Günter Ganßauge, former GDR border guard) “I didn’t think that was good. Why shouldn’t he see what was here? It looked like we had something to hide. But what?” Border guards stood along the wall, looking suspiciously across to the other side. The gate became a border tower.

An observation post was set up on the roof under plexiglass. Surveillance cameras were added later. In response to flags of the West flying above the Reichstag, a huge flagpole was anchored in the gate roof in the soldiers chamber now behind the Quadriga, the flag of the GDR could finally be hoisted

Hammer, compass and wreath of wheat instead of the Eagle and Iron Cross. Over the years, the gate behind the wall in West Berlin would become a popular tourist attraction. Here, anyone could go on the viewing platform to catch a glimpse over the wall.

There was a viewing platform in the east too, but it was reserved for state guests and selected visitor groups from abroad. They were received by Günter Ganßauge. (Günter Ganßauge, former GDR border guard) “For the public, I was the commander at the Brandenburg Gate, the officer who appeared in all the

Photos and so on. In reality, I had quite a long title. Head of the Foreign Information Department of the Political Administration of the Berlin City Command and head of the National People’s Army Information Center at the Brandenburg Gate.” At one of the two gate houses, he explained to visitors the GDR’s

Perspective on what they called the anti fascist protection wall. From the platform, the view stretched westward beyond the wall to the capitalist aggressors. (Günter Ganßauge, former GDR border guard) “I don’t know what it felt like for people to be here, to be at the Brandenburg Gate, to learn about it.

Because here you are at this very historic landmark. And you got the chance to see the whole border area.” It was an opportunity denied his fellow citizens. (Günter Ganßauge, former GDR border guard) “For them, it wasn’t exactly nice that they had to stay back there.”

(Ilka-Sascha Kowalzcuk, Historian) “You couldn’t touch it as an East-Berliner, you couldn’t get any closer than 200 meters or so. You stood in front of barriers and concrete containers with ugly plants in them. And from there you could kind of get a look at the Brandenburg Gate.”

Over time, the Brandenburg Gate evolved into a symbol of division, one seemingly entrenched with little prospect for change. For Berliners, those walled in on both sides, the wall was part of their everyday. (Peter Wensierski, Journalist) “When you were at the wall at the Reichstag

At the Brandenburg Gate, it was a very strange place to be because it was a dead zone. And the Brandenburg Gate stood there, somewhat lost in this wide, empty death strip. It was a piece of frozen German history.” But things changed in early June 1987, when a concert

Was held at the Reichstag on the West side of the wall. Ilka-Sascha Kowalzcuk, like many young East-Berliners, was drawn to the gate for a chance to at least hear the pop stars from the West. (Ilka-Sascha Kowalzcuk, Historian) “Among others, David Bowie, who played his music

in front of the Reichstag and greeted his fans in the East.” at the Brandenburg Gate, “I was on the West side at the concert and you could tell something was brewing in the east.” The crowd chanted: “The wall must go.” (Ilka-Sascha Kowalzcuk, Historian) “Several thousand young people gathered in front of

The Brandenburg Gate and under the eyes of Western cameras, these young people were beaten and arrested by the Stasi and the police images that went around the world.” (Peter Wensierski, Journalist) “The disproportionately harsh reaction from the state authorities politicised and angered people.

And so played a part in bringing about the end of the GDR.” Just a few days later, in West Berlin, Ronald Reagan delivered a speech, two sentences burnt into history: (Ronald Reagan, then US president) “Mr. Gorbachev open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”

At the time, nobody knew that in just two years These words by the then Secretary for Information, Günter Schabowski were the beginning of the end of the GDR. (Bärbel Reinke, contemporary witness) “I thought, what is this man stammering about? What does he mean exactly? Then a reporter asked. So what now?

Can GDR citizens travel immediately? Yes, immediately.” Yes, immediately. East-Berliners rushed to the border crossings. (Ilka-Sascha Kowalzcuk, Historian) “These scenes were repeated everywhere, where the East Germans gathered in the East. Situation at the Brandenburg Gate that night was completely different. These famous images, which were all taken at the Brandenburg Gate,

Almost exclusively show West-Berliners because they climbed onto the wall from the west side behind the Brandenburg Gate.” People from the east also arrived at Pariser Platz. East and West Berliners came together at the Brandenburg Gate.

(Günter Ganßauge, former GDR border guard) “My wife said at the time, Oh my, what’s going to happen now? I said I’m sure the boys will know what to do. It’ll be all right in an already catastrophic situation. But it would have taken just one person for it to turn into a bloodbath.”

The situation remained peaceful at the Brandenburg Gate until 4:00 in the morning when border troops cleared Pariser Platz. (Bärbel Reinke, contemporary witness) “I couldn’t get through because there was a row of soldiers in front of me, man to man, and they didn’t let anyone through.

I was so scared and then I just started yelling.” (Bärbel Reinke, contemporary witness) “But then an officer came and he guided me to the Brandenburg Gate. We had a little way to walk together, the officer and I. And that was a very, very nice feeling.”

(Hope Harrison, Historian) “On November 9th, I was on a plane headed from New York City to Berlin. And the pilot said, Ladies and gentlemen. For those who don’t know. The wall has fallen. We’re flying into history.” Two days before Christmas, the Brandenburg Gate is opened for Berliners.

New Year’s Eve sees hundreds of thousands celebrating at the gate. The aftermath is marked by something like a hangover, with the New Year’s Eve festivities having resulted in numerous injuries, 1 fatality and extensive damage to the Quadriga and gate. Under the eyes of the world press, the Quadriga is dismantled.

Plans for its comprehensive restoration in West Berlin are put into motion. Parts stolen and destroyed on New Year’s Eve are to be individually rebuilt. The charioteer is then lifted back onto the gate. In a reunited Germany, Victoria once again bears the Iron Cross and Prussian eagle.

Pariser Platz became a temporary wasteland, an improvised car park for tourist buses. Then the area became a construction site for a decade. Around the turn of the Millennium, the gate, now accessible to cars, disappeared behind an advertising banner for two years. Extensive renovations were undertaken, replacing entire

Column blocks and erasing traces of two world wars and air pollution. After two years, designer and ski legend Willie Borgner spectacularly unveiled the newly restored gate by opening a giant zipper bearing his company logo. Today, Pereza Platz looks almost as it did a century ago.

(Peter Wensierski, Journalist) “I never dreamt that I would one day have my office here on Pariser Platz. For 11 years, I went there every day and looked out of the window. It was something very special.” For 30 years, Peter Wansierski was a reporter at

The Berlin office of the Spiegel magazine. (Peter Wensierski, Journalist) “There was always something going on, from pop singer Udo Lindenberg to the British Queen or whoever. People camehere from all over the world.” From his office on Pariser Platz, Wensierski captured a photo with the Brandenburg Gate every day for 11 years.

(Peter Wensierski, Journalist) “From year to year it would change. Pariser Platz increasingly became the place where everyone who had a demand or something to say would come. Even all the crazies who were around at the time. The square came to life and became a bit of a circus.

Then for the tourists from all over the world, the Brandenburg Gate became an essential stop.” Most people don’t realize that the Brandenburg Gate also provides a remarkable refuge from the chaos of the city. The gate has a space for silence, contemplation, prayer and meditation. (Andreas Rendmeister, Restorer) “Of course, it’s very special.

It’s a beautiful construction, a multi faceted structure. By the way, it was my first restoration project back when I started my career. I couldn’t believe my eyes. At the time, I didn’t want to believe it. No matter how familiar you are with the hydraulic lift,

Sometimes you still have to look to see which lever is which. You wouldn’t want to crash into a historically significant structure like this or you might be front page news.” Throughout its history, the Brandenburg Gate has served as a symbol for many things.

In recent decades, it has stood for the unity of Germany and of Europe. Hardly its worst role.