image author: Gisela Pape

The Tiergarten is a former electoral game reserve west of the Brandenburg Gate, where once stags, wild boars and other animals were kept for hunting. Around 1700, Elector Frederick III started to convert the wood into an electoral park and ordered to build a road connection to Charlottenburg. Frederick the Great had the park created after a French model; his successor, Frederick William II had English models in the park. Despite all these recreations Tiergarten kept in many parts its character as Nature Park. The famous landscape designer Peter Joseph Lenne created the Tiergarten in the form of a public park in the sense of English horticultural art. The Tiergarten was totally ravaged during the 2nd World War and after the war chopped down by Berliner searching for firewood; from 1949 onwards the park was renewed. Ernst Reuter, the first governed mayor, planted a lime-tree and gave so the start of the park's new creation. Today, green areas, trees, bushes and shrub borders dominate the appearance of the Tiergarten. The around 200ha large area is a very popular recreation area for the people of Berlin, where one can enjoy wonderful walks. A few years ago the Tiergaten became a big building site; tunnels for railway and road traffic are being built. Inside the Tiergarten are many monuments, some of those were created before the 2nd World War, but so badly damaged during the war that they could only be replaced by copies.

Queen Louise Monument
The Queen-Louise-Monument was created by Erdmann Encke in white marble and on the 10th of March 1880 unveiled. The queen is depicted in a high-girded, long dress. The high relief at the round plinth makes references to her action on care-taking of wounded soldiers during the 1806/1807 war. The high-relief depicts scenes from the life of soldiers and taking care of the wounded.

Frederick William III Monument.
Frederick William's III monument, created by Friedrich Drake was unveiled on the 3rd of August 1849. The high-relief at the upper part of the round plinth, symbolises the pacific way of the king; depictions of an "ideal world". Well worth seeing are also the statues of Emperor William I as a prince, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Richard Wagner and Theodor Fontane. There is also a composer monument to Beethoven, Hayden and Mozart as well as the Goethe-monument, which is located on the eastside of the park. The Goethe-monument was created by F. Schaper and was unveiled on the 2nd of June 1880. The plinth is decorated with allegoric female figures, embodiments of the lyrical and dramatic literature as well as science.

Memorial Plaques for Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg
Beneath the Lichtenstein Bridge on the right bank of the Landwehr Canal a memorial plaque remembers Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. Rosa Luxemburg was murdered by Freikorps soldiers after the failure of the Spartacus uprising on the 15th January 1919; her corpse was here thrown into the canal. Karl Liebknecht was shot on the same day at the Neuer See.

'Two Forms'
South of the Congress Hall, at the Carillon stands the modern bronze sculpture 'Two Forms' in a lake. It was created by the British artist Henry Moore and are well worth seeing.

Soviet Cenotaph
The cenotaph of the Soviet army was built in 1945/1946 from the marble of the former "Neuen Reichskanzlei" and has been erected west of the Brandenburg Gate at the Tiergarten. It depicts a Red Army soldier in field equipment with fixed bayonet. Two Soviet tanks, which have reached Berlin first in 1945, flank the monument. Another Soviet monument can be seen at the Treptower Park.

'Der Rufer'
Between the Soviet monument and the Brandenburg Gate stands since 1989 on the centre strip of the Straße des 17.Juni the 3m high bronze sculpture 'Der Rufer' (the caller) by Gerhard Marcks. The 2m high granite plinth has an inscription by the Italian poet Petrarca, which goes as follows: "Ich gehe durch die Welt und rufe: 'Friede, Friede, Friede'. (I go through the world and shout: Peace, peace, Peace)

Transport Links

S-Bahn: S1, S2, S25 (Station. Unter den Linden)
Bus: 100 (from station Alexanderplatz, from station Zoo)