Siegessäule

Winged Victory detail Victory Column in its original size and location, on the Königsplatz across from the Reichstag, in 1900 Polish flag raised on the top of Berlin Victory Column on May 2, 1945 French tricolor raised atop the Victory Column statue during the 1945 Allied Victory Parade View from the platform of the Victory Column towards the Brandenburg Gate

The Victory Column (German: Siegessäule pronounced [ˈziːɡəsˌzɔɪ̯lə] , from Sieg 'victory' + Säule 'column') is a monument in Berlin, Germany. Designed by Heinrich Strack after 1864 to commemorate the Prussian victory over Denmark in the Second Schleswig War, by the time it was inaugurated on 2 September 1873, Prussia had also defeated Austria and its German allies in the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and France in the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71), giving the statue a new purpose. Different from the original plans, these later victories in the unification wars inspired the addition of the bronze sculpture of Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory, 8.3 metres (27 ft) high, designed by Friedrich Drake, giving the victory column its current height of 67m.