The location
Berlin’s Schlossfreiheit and its surroundings took on a special role both in an urban development and in a historic respect, above all due to its proximity to Berlin Palace. The four-hundred year history of Schlossfreiheit is marked by a “conflict between civic and monarchic assertiveness and also state representation requirements”.
The name “Schlossfreiheit” was coined in the 17th century. Since Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg, (the “Great Elector”) wished to revive the palace surroundings, he ordered the site to the west to be built on in 1671. As compensation for the expensive construction effort on the swampy ground, he granted various freedoms including exemption from ground rent and freedom of trade.
Whilst the first united state parliament met in Berlin Castle in April 1847, which revealed parliamentary aspirations, a food riot, the so-called Potato Revolution, broke out as a result of the failed harvest of the previous year. The military succeeded in completely breaking up this revolt within just a few days. The March Revolution of 1848 followed just one year later. The marks of this revolution were demands for civil liberties and rights of determination and also national unity, symbolised by the black-red-gold flag, which flared up everywhere in the German Confederation. Berlin also became a centre of this revolution: on the afternoon of 18th March 1848, a crowd gathered on Berlin’s Palace Square (Schlossplatz). Shots triggered street battles which quickly spread across the entire city centre and cost more than 250 people their lives.
The German Empire was proclaimed in January 1871 with the proclamation of the Prussian king as Kaiser. The first Kaiser of the German Empire was Wilhelm I. After his death, a competition to erect a national monument in his honour was started. Schlossfreiheit was decided upon as the site of the monument. Construction began in 1894 with the demolition of the row of houses built in the 17th century. A foundation measuring 76x38 metres was erected, the construction of which represented a particular challenge due to the swampy ground. Carefully constructed arches were created, the structural stability of which was to carry the weight of the monument. The 21 metre high monument, which was topped by a nine metre high statue of Wilhelm I on horseback, was inaugurated in 1897.
The monument was demolished again just half a century later. It had outlasted three forms of government in this short time: the Empire, the Weimar democracy and the Third Reich. It was partly damaged during the fighting of the November Revolution of 1918 and subsequently restored following debates on whether to rebuild or demolish it. There were also plans to demolish the monument under the National Socialists in order to make way for a new Reichsbank building. The monument was demolished shortly before the GDR was founded. The new powers that be had the Hohenzollern monument removed in the winter of 1949/50. Berlin Palace was also removed and the Palace of the Republic, seat of the GDR’s parliament, later erected in its place. The monument’s empty base remained opposite.
