Siegessäule, Berlin

The Victory Column rises from the Great Star as a monument designed by Heinrich Strack. Its polished stone pedestal supports a circular colonnade, a tall shaft, and a gilded figure by Friedrich Drake. The figure is Victoria, carrying a laurel wreath and a military standard, while an eagle crowns her helmet; Berliners call her Goldelse.

The monument commemorates the wars that brought about German unification. Its pedestal carries four bronze reliefs showing battles and the victorious arrival of allied troops in Berlin. Look at the shaft’s fluting: sixty captured cannon barrels, gilded and set into the lower sections, turn weapons into decoration.

The column began at Königsplatz and reached completion in 1873. In 1938 and 1939, it was moved here to the Great Star, where its structure was enlarged with an added drum and a broader pedestal. You can enter through the pedestal to a small museum, then climb a spiral staircase of 285 steps to a viewing platform about 51 metres above the ground.

From there, the panorama includes the Tiergarten, Potsdamer Platz, and the Brandenburg Gate. The monument’s unusual combination of military trophies, historical scenes, and a radiant goddess is what gives this landmark its unmistakable presence.