Seven sculptors were involved in completing the bronze equestrian monument as it stands today on the Heumarkt.
The sculpture, which stands on a pedestal, honors Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, who co-ruled the Rhine Province after the French occupation in 1815 and ensured peace and prosperity in the Cologne region.
The pedestal is decorated with 16 figures that are very closely associated with Prussia’s glory: from General von Blücher to the reformer von Hardenberg.
It took 14 years to complete (the Catholic people of Cologne initially had their problems with the Protestant Prussians).
This enabled Emperor Wilhelm I to ceremoniously unveil the monument on September 29, 1878.
Then the Second World War struck: the rider/horse fell from the pedestal and the monument was damaged.
In 1950 the pedestal was dismantled to make way for traffic. In 1973, it was decided to melt down the equestrian figure, except for the king’s head and the horse’s hindquarters, and to “distribute” the pedestal figures that had been spared from destruction and theft throughout the city.
It was not until 1978 that the people of Cologne remembered their old monument again:
It took 12 years until the equestrian monument was re-erected not far from its old location.
For this, lost parts had to be recast and damaged parts restored, and the pedestal had only been provisionally repaired.
But since 2015, the monument has been shining in its old glory again, reminding us of the successful Prussian era in Cologne.
We are actually already at the Heumarkt, and I would like to tell you a little about its history now. Let’s go a little further north to be in the middle of the square and from there have a complete panoramic view of the Heumarkt.
