Victory for Victory

To Berliners, no statue was more beloved than the great copper-plated goddess of victory driving her four 12-ft. horses proudly atop the 69-ft.-tall Brandenburg Gate. Completed in 1794, the Quadriga of Victory was the most famous work of a minor Prussian court sculptor, Johann Gottfried Schadow. But it caught the admiring eye of Napoleon as he rode in triumph through the gate in 1806, and the conqueror ordered it carted off to Paris. Brought back again by the Prussians in 1815 (when it acquired an iron cross surrounded by an oak leaf topped by an eagle), it remained in place until Russian artillery knocked it to scrap during the Battle of Berlin in World War II.

Last week Berliners rejoiced with the news that the Quadriga would once again be back in its place. East Berlin's Mayor Friedrich Ebert had originally suggested restoring the Quadriga to its place. Last week West Berlin Mayor Otto Suhr, whose Staatliche Museen has the original 1,000-piece mold stored in its cellar, agreed. The task of assembling the statue will cost $38,000, take more than a year to complete. Though the goddess of victory will then preside triumphantly over Communist East Berlin, West Berliners noted one fact with satisfaction. With the Quadriga back in place, there would be no room for the hated red flag now flying atop Brandenburger Tor.

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