Schillerbrunnen

On Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin's Mitte district stands the Schiller Monument, an important work of the Berlin school of sculpture in the Neo-Baroque style. The statue of the poet Friedrich Schiller, created by Reinhold Begas between 1864 and 1869, occupies a central position in front of the grand staircase of the former Royal Theater, which now serves as the Konzerthaus. The white marble monument shows a young man crowned with laurel, standing in a self-assured pose. His head is based on a bust by Johann Heinrich von Dannecker. The figure rests on a cube-shaped pedestal, which in turn stands on a hexagonal platform with five steps. The statue is surrounded by four semicircular fountain basins, along whose rims allegorical figures symbolize the poet's main fields of work: lyric poetry with a harp, drama with a mask, philosophy with a scroll, and history with writing tablets bearing the names of great contemporaries.

The monument traces its origins to the celebrations marking Schiller's 100th birthday in 1859, which were curtailed by political concerns. Instead, Prince Regent Wilhelm and the city of Berlin donated substantial sums for a monument, which Begas designed as the result of a competition. The formal unveiling did not take place until 1871, delayed by the Franco-Prussian War. During the Nazi era, the original was badly damaged and eventually dismantled. A bronze copy was installed in Schillerpark in 1941, while the marble pieces were stored separately in East and West Berlin. Only a cultural exchange agreement in 1986 made it possible to reunite the pieces, and in 1988 the restored monument was set up again at its original site. Today the monument is listed on the state register of historic monuments, although its original function as a fountain has not been restored.