Monumental Plaster Model of the Quadriga from the Brandenburg Gate on Exhibit in the Bundestag

11.10.2023
Gipsformerei – Kunstmanufaktur seit 1819

From 12 October 2023 to 31 March 2024, the exhibition Secrets of the Quadriga: Production – Destruction – Rebirth will be on display in the Bundestag. At the centre of this special exhibition are two monumental plaster models of the quadriga from the Brandenburg Gate made in 1957/58. These models of Victoria and a horse are presented as unique stores of information about the original quadriga by Johann Gottfried Schadow, which was destroyed in 1945/50.

The plaster models reveal features that are not present on today’s reconstruction of the quadriga and which document the eventful history of the original from 1793. A number of other outstanding exhibits – such as the remains of the protective casing from 1942 and numerous pictures, photographs, and film footage – serve to frame the plaster models as part of a richly illustrated journey through the past 235 years. The exhibition spans all the way from the production of the quadriga to its destruction and its reconstruction, and then on to the present day.

From 2020 to 2022, the plaster models of the quadriga from the Brandenburg Gate that were produced in 1957/58 were gathered together in an open workshop at the German Bundestag’s Berlin Wall Memorial, where they were documented and underwent restoration work. The outcomes of this joint project between the Art Council of the German Bundestag, the Gipsformerei of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and the Berlin Monument Authority are now being presented in this special 

The Exhibition Secrets of the Quadriga: Production – Destruction – Rebirth

Eight lavishly illustrated panels provide information on the historical background and depict the quadriga in the epochs of Prussia, the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, the Nazi regime, the division of Germany, reunification, all the way through to the present day in the open workshop. Alongside the plaster sculptures, there is also a full-size historical photograph of the “Procession of Peace” relief on the parapet of the Brandenburg Gate from 1926, stretching more than seven metres in length. The original symbolic meaning of the Brandenburg Gate – which was designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans and commissioned by Frederick William II in 1788 – is illustrated clearly in the relief figures fabricated by Schadow’s workshop and the objects they bear.

Opening: Wednesday, 11 October 2023, 4 pm
Duration: 12 October 2023 to 31 March 2024
Opening hours: Tuesday to Sunday 11 am bis 5 pm
Location: Berlin Wall Memorial at the German Bundestag, Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus, Schiffbauerdamm (entrance along the Spree), 10117 Berlin

Exhibition Publication

The exhibition will be accompanied by the release of the volume Die Quadriga vom Brandenburger Tor: Auf der Suche nach dem Original, which documents the project and features texts about the restoration and conservation efforts and on historical research into the quadriga.

Prominent Replica: The Quadriga on the Brandenburg Gate

The quadriga on the Brandenburg Gate is the most famous emblem of Berlin and is known around the world as a symbol of both the division and the reunification of Germany. However, today’s quadriga is not the original made by Johann Gottfried Schadow in 1793, the founder of the Berlin School of sculpture. The original was heavily damaged in 1945 during the Second World War and destroyed in 1950. Since 1958, a replica of the quadriga has stood on top of the Brandenburg Gate. Its “rebirth” was made possible by protective impressions that were made in 1942, which have been entirely destroyed except for the face of Victoria. Thanks to this exhibition, this valuable mould can now be inspected up close for the first time.