Kyffhäuser Monument

The Kyffhäuser Monument (German: Kyffhäuserdenkmal), also known as Barbarossa Monument (Barbarossadenkmal), is an Emperor William monument within the Kyffhäuser mountain range in the German state of Thuringia. It was erected in 1890–96 at the site of medieval Kyffhausen Castle near Bad Frankenhausen.

The Kyffhäuser Monument is the third-largest monument in Germany, after the Monument to the Battle of the Nations (Völkerschlachtdenkmal) commemorating the 1813 Battle of Leipzig and the Emperor William Monument at Porta Westfalica, both of which also were designed by architect Bruno Schmitz (1858–1916).

The monument, which totals 81 metres (266 ft) tall, is located in the eastern part of the Kyffhäuser range at an elevation of c. 420 m (1,380 ft) below the Kyffhäuserburgberg peak, 439.7 m (1,443 ft). The site belongs to Steinthaleben in the municipal area of Kyffhäuserland, about 6.5 kilometres (4.0 mi) north of Bad Frankenhausen and southwest of Tilleda in the Goldene Aue plain.

After the death of William I (Wilhelm I.), first German Emperor in 1888, numerous memorials were erected in his honour all over the German Empire. The Kyffhäuser Monument was initially proposed by the 19th century Deutscher Kriegerbund (German War Veterans Federation), which under the name Kyffhäuserbund (Kyffhäuser Federation) took over its maintenance after 1900. Architect Bruno Schmitz drew up plans referring to the tradition of massive monuments like the Bavarian Walhalla memorial, the Hermannsdenkmal in the Teutoburg Forest, or the Niederwalddenkmal near Rüdesheim.

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