Built 1788–1791 as the grandest of Berlin’s eighteen city gates, modelled on the entrance to the Acropolis in Athens. On top: the Quadriga — a four-horse chariot driven by the goddess of victory. It was meant to be a gate of peace. History had other plans.
In 1806 Napoleon beat Prussia, marched through this gate, and liked the Quadriga so much he had it taken apart and shipped to Paris in crates. Berliners mockingly called him “the horse thief of Berlin”. Eight years later Prussian troops took Paris and brought the horses home — and the goddess got a new accessory: the Iron Cross on her staff, designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel.
When the Wall went up in 1961, the Gate ended up inside the border strip — in East Berlin, but sealed off from East Berliners too. For 28 years nobody could walk through it. West Berliners climbed viewing platforms to look at it across the Wall; East Berlin guards patrolled around it. In June 1987 US President Ronald Reagan stood on the western side and said the famous words: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”
On 22 December 1989, six weeks after the Wall fell, the crossing at the Gate was opened while a hundred thousand people cheered in the rain. Ever since, this is where Berlin celebrates everything — New Year’s Eve, World Cup wins, marathon finishes. When you stand under it at sunset, you’re standing on the old death strip.