Siegestor, Munich

 

 

Munich is the heart of Bavaria and lot to offer to a traveler. I loved the city on my first visit and explored more in the 2nd. Pieces of history are lying around and if you have eyes, you don’t even need to pay to pick them up.

The Siegestor or the Victory Gate is a three-arched triumphal arch crowned with a statue of Bavaria with a lion-quadriga.The gate was commissioned by King Ludwig I of Bavaria,                                                                                                        designed by Friedrich von Gärtner and completed by Eduard Mezger in 1852. The marble quadriga was sculpted by Johann Martin von Wagner,artistic advisor to Ludwig and a professor at the University of Würzburg, in the beautiful town of Würzburg.

 

The gate is located near the Ludwig Maximilian University  and marks boundary between the two Munich districts of Maxvorstadt and Schwabing. The streets around the gate are busy, primarily with uni students , and decorated with fountains, statues and beautiful street lamps .

The monument is a reminder of peace. It sustained  heavy damage in World War II . But the gate was reconstructed and restored only partially. The new inscription on the back side by Wilhelm Hausenstein reads Dem Sieg geweiht, vom Krieg zerstört, zum Frieden mahnend, “Dedicated to victory, destroyed by war, urging peace”.  Thus after so many scars from the war, the city is trying to heal.

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