LEGO Brandenburg Gate, Architecture Brandenburg Gate Instructions Manual

Brandenburg Gate

Brandenburger Tor
Berlin, Germany

Brandenburg Gate

Brandenburger Tor
Berlin, Germany

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Architecture.LEGO.com

The Brandenburg Gate

The Brandenburg Gate (in German: Brandenburger
Tor) is one of Berlin’s most important monuments–an
architectural landmark and historical symbol all in one.
It has been at the heart of German and European history
for over two hundred years.

Commissioned by King Frederick William II of
Prussia as a sign of peace, it was built as the grandest of
a series of 18 city gates through which Berlin was once
entered. The entire construction and ornamentation of
the Gate reflected its extraordinary importance as the

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monumental entry to Unter den Linden, the renowned
boulevard of linden trees, which formerly led directly to the
city palace of the Prussian monarchs.
The Gate was constructed between 1788 and 1791
according to the designs of its architect, Carl Gotthard
Langhans. His inspiration for the building came from the
Propylaea in Athens, the monumental entry hall of the
Acropolis. Just as the Propylaea led to a shrine of the
ancient world, the Brandenburg Gate was to represent the
access to the most important city of the Prussian kingdom.

With its direct reference to antiquity, the gate founded the
Classic age of architecture in Berlin, an epoch that soon
led the city to be called “Athens of the Spree” (in German:
Spreeathen), after the river that runs through it.
The Gate itself is built in sandstone and consists
of twelve Doric columns, six to each side, forming five
passageways. Citizens originally were allowed to use only
the outermost two, the central passageway being reserved
for Prussian royalty and visiting foreign dignitaries.

Propylaea, entry hall of the Acropolis The Gate is built in sandstone Twelve columns, six to each side

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Atop the gate is the Quadriga, a chariot drawn by
four horses driven by Victoria, the Roman goddess of
victory. It was created by Johann Gotfried Schadow,
the most important sculptor in Berlin during this
period. The relief on the pedestal portrays Victoria
together with a number of attendants who personi­fied virtues such as friendship and statesmanship. Along
with symbols of arts and sciences, these were seen
as vital components ensuring the city would bloom

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in times of peace. Down in the passageways, reliefs
depicting the exploits of Hercules alluded to the time
of the War and the subsequent period of reconstruction,
during which time King Frederick William II had made
Prussia into a true European power.
Though the Brandenburg Gate has remained essentially
unchanged since its completion, it has had a central role
in many of Europe’s most monumental historical events.
In 1806, Napoleon marched triumphantly into Berlin and

Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-S89875. Photo: Quaschinsky, Hans-Gunter І November
1949

Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-M10 15-327. Photo: Donath, Otto І April 1950

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carried the Quadriga away with him to Paris as a spoil of war.
After Napoleon’s defeat in 1814 and the Prussian occupation
of Paris, the Quadriga was restored to Berlin and Victoria’s
wreath of oak leaves was supplemented with a new symbol
of Prussian power, the Iron Cross. In 1933 the National Socialists
marched through the gate in a martial torch parade,
introducing the darkest chapter of German history, ultimately
leaving the city in ruins and Germany divided.
When Berlin was partitioned after World War II, the
center of the city fell into the Soviet sector, which met the
British sector at the Brandenburg Gate. After a series of
demonstrations against the building of the Berlin Wall, the
Soviets closed the Brandenburg Gate on August 14th, 1961.
It remained closed until December 22nd, 1989, when the
wall fell and East and West Berlin were unified once again.
Throughout this turbulent period of history, the
Brandenburg Gate had fallen into general disrepair. In 2000,
the Berlin Monument Conservation Foundation (in German:
Stiftung Denkmalschutz Berlin) began a full restoration of
the Brandenburg Gate. It opened to the public again two

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years and six million US dollars later on October 3rd, 2002,
the twelfth anniversary of German Reunification.
Today, the Brandenburg Gate is regarded as one of
Europe’s most famous landmarks.
Carl Gotthard Langhans (December 15, 1732–October 1,

1808) was born in Landeshut, Silesia (now in Poland). He was
not originally educated as an architect. Instead he studied
law from 1753 to 1757 and then mathematics and languages.
He taught himself architecture using the antique texts of the
Roman architecture theorist Vitruvius.
His first draft of “Zum Schifflein Christi” for the
Protestant Church in 1764 in Groß-Glogau earned him both
his first recognition as an architect and an appointment as
building inspector for the Count of Hatzfeld, whose war­ravaged palace he had rebuilt to his own design between
1766 and 1774. Through the intervention of the Count of
Hatzfeld, Langhans also became known at the royal court
in Berlin, and this would eventually lead to arguably his
greatest work: the Brandenburg Gate. He died at Grüneiche
near Breslau (now in Poland) in 1808.

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Facts about Brandenburg Gate

Location: .................................... Berlin, Germany

Architect:.................................... Carl Gotthard Langhans

Architectural style: .............. Classicism

Materials: ................................... Sandstone

Date of construction: ......... From 1788 to 1791

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At the base of Brandenburg Gate
lies Pariser Platz, a popular city
square, which was once home
to embassies, the houses of
noblemen and grand hotels. At the
end of World War II, the Gate was
one of the few structures in the
square left standing.

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Shortly after the Thirty Years’
War, and a century before
the Branderburg Gate was
constructed, Berlin was a small
walled city within a star fort with
several named gates: Spandauer
Thor, St. Georgen Thor, Stralower
Thor, Cöpenicker.

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On June 12, 1987, U.S.
President Ronald Reagan
spoke to West Berliners
at the Brandenburg Gate,
and called for his Soviet
counterpart to “Come here
to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev,
open this gate!”

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The 12 Doric columns, six on
each side of the Gate, sup­port the gate’s 11 meters (36­foot) long transverse beam.

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A complete refurbishment
of the Gate was carried out
in 2000, and took two years
to complete at a cost of six
million US dollars.

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In the 1980s, decrying the
existence of two German
states, West Berlin mayor
Richard von Weizäcker
said: “The German question
is open as long as the
Brandenburg Gate is
closed.”

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One of the most famous
speeches given in front of
the Brandenburg Gate was
that of US President John F.
Kennedy in 1963, where he
said the famous words “Ich
bin ein Berliner”.

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As an Architectural Artist my desire is to capture the essence
of a particular architectural landmark into its pure sculptural
form. I fi rst and foremost do not view my models as literal
replicas, but rather my own artistic interpretations through
the use of LEGO

®

bricks as a medium. The LEGO brick is
not initially thought of as a material typically used in creating
art or used as an artist’s medium. I quickly discovered the
LEGO brick was lending itself as naturally to my applications
as paint to a painter or metal to a blacksmith. As I explore
how to capture these buildings with the basic shapes of the
bricks and plates, I fi nd the possibilities and challenges they
off er almost magical.

21011 Brandenburg Gate

Following the parameters found among the landmark series
it was important to maintain a souvenir scaled model. This
historical monument contains architectural styling and motifs
diffi cult to accurately replicate at a smaller size. For instance,
the colonnades are made using railings scaled to be roughly
3 feet high, but here clearly take on the feel of 20 foot tall
columns.

Another interesting detail attributed to achieving a
small scale is how to eff ectively represent the monument’s
sculpture of the Quadriga, a four-horsed chariot driven by
Victoria, the winged goddess of victory, found crowning the
top of the gate. This very distinctive feature was recreated
using “greebles”–the use of unintended parts to recreate
another object in an abstract way.
While this model is seemingly a straightforward build,
achieving the ½ stud width cantilever found highlighting the
parameter where the upper cornice meets the frieze seemed
tricky. The technique used turned out to be a simple solution
using 1x1 round plates off set between 4 full studs and 2x2
tiles above completing the proportionally correct ½ stud
overhang.

– Adam Reed Tucker

A Word from the Artist

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The “Scale Model” line – LEGO® Architecture in the 1960s

The history of current LEGO® Architecture series
can be traced back to the beginning of the 1960s when
the LEGO brick’s popularity was still steadily increasing.
Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, the then owner of the
company, began looking for ways to further expand the
LEGO system, and asked his designers to come up with a
set of new components that would add a new dimension
to LEGO building.
Their answer was as simple as it was revolutionary:
five elements that matched the existing bricks, but were
only one third the height. These new building “plates”
made it possible to construct more detailed models than
before.
This greater LEGO flexibility seemed to match
the spirit of the age; where modernist architects were
redefining how houses looked, and people were taking
an active interest in the design of their dream home. It
was from these trends that the LEGO “Scale Model” line
was born in early 1962.

The name itself was a direct link to the way
architects and engineers worked, and it was hoped that
they and others would build their projects “to scale” in
LEGO elements. As with LEGO Architecture today, the
original sets were designed to be different from the
normal brightly colored LEGO boxes, and also included
An Architectural Book for inspiration.
Though the five elements remain an integral part of
the LEGO building
system today, the

“Scale Model” was

phased out in 1965

–it would be over

40 years before its
principles would
be revived in the
LEGO Architecture
series we know
today.

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Architecture series

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Customer Service
Kundenservice
Service Consommateurs
Servicio Al Consumidor

www.lego.com/service or dial

00800 5346 5555 :
1-800-422-5346 :

References

Photo credits:

Bundesarchiv

Bundesregierung

Landmark series

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