Victory Column (Schwerin)

After the victory in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 and the proclamation of the German Empire on January 18, 1871, the Grand Duke Friedrich Franz II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin commissioned Herman Willebrand to manufacture a mock-up of the Victory Column in 1872 to sculpt the Victory Column and sculptor the statue “Megapolis” "Was appointed by Gustav Wilgoh. Drawings of the monument were ready in August 1872, and in February 1873 a model of the column was presented to the public.

Almost immediately after the demonstration of the model, the first work on laying the foundation began. In order for the column to be stable, it was necessary to remove soil to a depth of 16 feet. Then, an octagonal-shaped concrete base was poured.

On December 2, 1873, on the anniversary of the Battle of Luigni Pupri in 1870, after the foundation was laid, a ceremonial laying of the first stone took place. The first stone was laid by Frederick Franz II and he delivered a speech for edification to the descendants ^[1] . Then, after the construction of the steps and the column itself, it was opened on December 2, 1874.

According to estimates for 1875, the total amount of expenses for the construction of the column amounted to 114,136.32 marks. Of these, 72,080.89 marks were spent on the column itself, 39,055.91 marks on the foundation and 2,999.52 marks on other expenses ^[2] .

The appearance of the column was based on the appearance of the Foki column at the Roman Forum . The area in front of the column was originally covered with mosaics, later it was paved with slabs of blue-gray Saxon granite. Before World War I , cast iron candelabra , working on gas, stood on the sides of the column. Next to them were two captured French cannons. But with the onset of World War I, they were dismantled.

The column begins with a rectangular base on which four bronze tablets hang with the names of 650 fallen soldiers and the inscription: “To soldiers 1870-71 from grateful Mecklenburgers” ^[3] . The granite base of the column ends with a Corinthian warrant and a 2.60-meter statue of the Megapolis, which is an allegory of the state of Mecklenburg. Her figure, crowned by the "Vendian crown", raises her sword with a laurel wreath strung on it with her right hand, and with her left hand holds a short pointed shield, on which you can see the head of the Mecklenburg bull.

The main material for the monument was red Swedish granite. The height of the column with the statue is about 23 meters.

• (Anonymus) Grabstätten und Denkmäler Mecklenburgischer Krieger aus den Jahren 1870 und 1871, Wismar / Rostock / Ludwigslust 1874 (mit Nennung aller Namen der Gefallenen)
• Schweriner Volkszeitung. Mecklenburg-Magazin Nr. 16/1995: Das Geheimnis der Siegessäule

• Commons: Siegessäule Schwerin - Sammlung von Bildern, Videos und Audiodateien