BRANDENBURG GATE

The Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany. German Brandenburger Tor, the only remaining town gate of Berlin, at the western end of the avenue Unter den Linden. The gate was built in 178891 by Carl G. Langhans after the model of the Propylaea in Athens. As Berlin's arch of triumph, it was surmounted by the famous Quadriga of Victory, a statue of a chariot drawn by four horses. The entire structure was heavily damaged during World War II. In 195758 the gate was restored and the statue recast from the original molds. From 1961 to 1989 the Berlin Wall shut off access to the gate to both eastern and western Germans. The gate was reopened on Dec. 22, 1989, in the course of the reunification of East and West Berlin.