Siegesdenkmal

The Siegesdenkmal ("victory monument") in Freiburg im Breisgau is a monument to the German victory in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. It was erected at the northern edge of the historic center of Freiburg im Breisgau next to the former (barracks). After World War II it was moved 100m to the west. Nowadays, the Siegesdenkmal is under conversation.

The Siegesdenkmal is dedicated to the XIV Corps (German Empire) of the German army, in which mostly soldiers from served. Under the command of General August von Werder the battles at Montbéliard in 1871 ended in victory. In the general mood of victory, funds were raised in (with cities from Lörrach to Karlsruhe participating), to erect a statue in the middle of .

A public competition was organized among the sculptors in Germany for a design of the statue. Whereby, some artists were explicitly invited to participate. The jury consisted of five artists and art connoisseurs:

The winner amongst the 18 competitors is Karl Friedrich Moest, a sculptor working at the art academy of Karlsruhe. He was then also in charge of the realization of the monument. Professor Caspar von Zumbusch from Munich and Reinhold Begas from Berlin earned second and third places respectively. Their models were displayed in the city's Augustiner Museum. Joint second place went to the sculptor from Freiburg im Breisgau, whose son later on became the master student of and was involved in the construction of the Siegesdenkmal.

The sculptoral and ornamental elements were made in the ("casting house") of in Nürnberg and the work on the granite was conducted by local sculptor Alberto Luratti. For the decoration of the monument gun barrels from the defeated enemy were used. The total production cost amounted to 85,000 gold marks.

...
Wikipedia