Siegessäule

This postcard I found in my mailbox few days ago. The sender is…my dear friend Marta. The card showed Siegessäule – The Victory Column in Berlin. Thank you, thank you and one more time: thank you :)

It is a monument in Berlin, Germany. Designed by Heinrich Strack after 1864 to commemorate the Prussian victory in the Danish-Prussian War, by the time it was inaugurated on 2 September 1873, Prussia had also defeated Austria in the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and France in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71), giving the statue a new purpose. Different from the original plans, these later victories in the so-called unification wars inspired the addition of the bronze sculpture of Victoria, 8,3 meters high and weighing 35 tonnes, designed by Friedrich Drake. Berliners, with their fondness for giving nicknames to buildings, call the statue Goldelse, meaning something like "Golden Lizzy".

The total height of the column with the statue is 66,89 m. The columns are inside the stairs (285 steps) leading to situated at a height of 50,66 m viewing platform.

If you have claustrophobia – better do not try go on the viewing platform, however…view from this platform is magnificent. Also you should know that inside the Victory Column you will not find the elevator ;)