Brandenburg Gate

After Germany’s surrender, the gate stood in the Soviet occupation zone beside the British sector. This boundary later divided East and West Berlin. On 12 June 1987, Ronald Reagan spoke here and urged Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Wall.

1. 1734An earlier city gate was built here by Philipp Gerlach as part of Berlin’s excise wall.
2. 1788–1791King Frederick William II commissioned the gate, designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans.
3. 1806Napoleon took the Quadriga to Paris after Prussia’s defeat. It returned to Berlin in 1814.
4. Second World WarBullets and nearby explosions badly damaged the gate.
5. Postwar reconstructionThe Quadriga was rebuilt using a plaster cast made in 1942.