Design The base consists of polished red Swedish granite, measuring 18.8 meters square and 7.2 meters high. The base contains four bronze reliefs depicting scenes from the three victories. Measuring 12 meters wide and 2 meters high, they were designed by
Moritz Schulz,
Karl Keil,
Alexander Calandrelli, and
Albert Wolff. Upon the base is a round hall with 16 granite columns measuring 4.7 meters high. Along the hall's circumference is a glass mosaic designed by
Anton von Werner. Four sandstone columns rise above this hall, the first three containing 20 gilded gun barrels each, 12 pounders from the Danish victory, 8 pounders from the Austrian victory, and 4 pounders from the French victory. On top of the fourth sandstone column resides the
gilded bronze victory. The relief decoration was removed in 1945. It was restored for the 750th anniversary of Berlin in 1987 by the French president at that time,
François Mitterrand.
Locations The Victory Column originally stood in
Königsplatz (now Platz der Republik). In 1938/1939, as part of the preparation of the monumental plans to redesign Berlin into
Welthauptstadt Germania, the
Nazis relocated the column to its present site at the
Großer Stern (Great Star). At the same time, the column was augmented by another 6.5 metres, giving it its present height of 66.89 metres. The monument survived
World War II without much damage. Surrounded by a
street circle, the column is also accessible to pedestrians through four tunnels, according to plans by
Albert Speer. A spiral staircase leads to a viewing platform under the statue. ==Historical significance==