Bavaria statue

Bavaria is the name given to a monumental, bronze sand-cast 19th-century statue in Munich, southern Germany. It is a female personification of the Bavarian homeland, and by extension its strength and glory.

The statue is part of an ensemble which also includes a hall of fame (Ruhmeshalle) and a stairway. It was commissioned by Ludwig I of Bavaria, with the specific design being chosen by competition. It was cast at the Munich foundry of J.B. Stiglmair between 1844 and 1850 and is the first colossal statue since Classical Antiquity to consist entirely of cast bronze. It was and is up to the present day considered a technological masterpiece. Because of its size it had to be produced in several parts; it is 18.52 metres (60 ft. 9 in.) high and weighs about 87.36 tons. It rests on a stone base which is 8.92 (28 ft.) metres high.

An internal circular staircase leads up to a platform in the head, where four openings in the helmet provide a view of the Theresienwiese and downtown Munich.

Because it forms a logical and artistic unit together with the Bavaria statue, a brief description of the historical background and construction of the Hall of Fame follows.

The childhood of Ludwig I was marked by the claims to power of Napoleon on the one hand, and Austria on the other. At that time the venerable House of Wittelsbach which he represented had been reduced to a plaything for the ambitions of these two major powers. Up until 1805, when Napoleon “freed” Munich in the War of the Second Coalition and made Ludwig’s father, Maximilian, king of Bavaria, that nation had repeatedly been a theater of war and had suffered the disastrous consequences. Only after Napoleon’s defeat in the Battle of Leipzig in 1813 did Bavaria enjoy a period of peace.

This history prompted Ludwig already when he was crown prince to think in terms of a “Bavaria comprising all tribes” and of a “great German nation”. These goals motivated him in following years to undertake several projects involving the construction of national monuments like the pillar commemorating the Bavarian constitution of 1818 in Gaibach, the Walhalla temple on an imposing platform overlooking the Danube river and the town of Donaustauf east of Regensburg, the Hall of Fame in Munich (1853) and the Befreiungshalle (“Hall of Liberation”) near Kelheim (1863), all of which were privately financed by the king. In their design and contents, purpose and reception they convey an artistic and political harmony unique in Germany, despite their inner contradictions.

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