National Kaiser Wilhelm Monument 3D model (Kaiser-Wilhelm-Nationaldenkmal) is a non-preserved equestrian statue of the first German emperor Wilhelm I by Reinhold Begas. It was located in the center of Berlin on the Schloßfriheit square opposite the Eosander portal on the western side of the City Palace on the bank of the Kupfergraben. The masterpiece of Reinhold Begas in the neo-baroque style, along with the Victory Avenue and the Bismarck National Monument, originally installed at the Reichstag, is a typical example of the monuments of the Wilhelminism era. The creation of the monument was directly controlled by Kaiser Wilhelm II. The monument survived the Second World War without any damage but was demolished in 1950 in accordance with the decision of the leadership of the GDR on ideological grounds.
A year after the death of Kaiser Wilhelm in 1888 of the three emperors in Germany, a public competition was announced for the design of the main national monument to the German emperor on Palace Square in Berlin. In this competition, won the project of the imperial forum, proposed by the architect Bruno Schmitz. Later this project was declared unsuccessful, and in 1891 a new, already closed competition was held, to which eight sculptors were invited. A monument to the Kaiser was planned to be installed already at the western facade of the City Palace on Schloßfriheit. Probably, at the insistence of Wilhelm II, Reinhold Begas and the Munich sculptor Wilhelm von Ryman were also involved in the competition. Upon learning of this, half of the originally invited sculptors refused to participate in the competition. As expected, Kaiser’s favorite, Begas, won the first prize in the competition, creating a sculptural ensemble with his students. The architectural part of the project was executed by Stuttgart architect Gustav Galmguber. This creative duo of Begas and Galmguber managed to defeat the project of the court counselor for the construction of Ernst von Ina.
The implementation of the monument project began in June 1894 with the demolition of a number of buildings on the Schloßfriheit square. The foundation stone of the monument was laid on August 18, 1895, on the day of the 25th anniversary of the Battle of Saint-Privas - Gravelotte. The opening ceremony of the national monument in the presence of numerous guests of honor took place on March 22, 1897, as part of a ten-day celebration of the centenary of Emperor Wilhelm's birth. Kaiser Wilhelm’s National Monument cost four million gold marks, an impressive amount for that time. The monument has been criticized for its monumental dimensions and non-arched forms. The height of the structure was 21 m, the height of the equestrian statue is 9 m. On its left hand, the Kaiser was accompanied by the genius of the world in a woman's appearance. The bronze pedestal, in the corners of which four goddesses of victory hovered on the balls, was decorated with the signature “Wilhelm the Great, German Emperor, King of Prussia 1861–8888” on the front side, and “As a token of gratitude and love. German people. On the granite steps leading to the pedestal, there were two monumental statues created by Eugene Börmel: from the north - “War”, from the south - “Peace”. At the corners of the base of the monument, four lions were guarded by military trophies. Soon, the monument to Wilhelm earned the stinging nickname of “Wilhelm in the Lion's Roat”, which hinted at the biblical story of the then-popular Brighton Riviera painting depicting the Prophet Daniel surrounded by lions. The monument was criticized as a terrible example of the manner of some sculptors to frame pretty statues of unnecessary tinsel: in addition to the Kaiser and his horse, 19 half-naked women, 22 men, and 12 children were represented on the monument. Berliners who did not recognize the conventions called the new national monument “Wilhelm II Zoo”, because the monument depicted 21 horses, two donkeys, 8 sheep, four lions, 16 bats, 6 ordinary mice, one squirrel, 10 pigeons, two crows, two eagles, 16 owls, one kingfisher, 32 lizards, 18 snakes, one carp, one frog, 16 crayfish, a total of 157 fauna representatives.
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