The Route Of The Wall: The Brandenburg Gate
Every great city has its one defining landmark. A building, statue or monument so iconic it becomes synonymous with the name of the city itself. Paris has the Eiffel Tower, New York has The Statue Of Liberty, San Francisco the Golden Gate Bridge. Berlin has The Brandenburg Gate.
Since starting life as a simple wooden toll gate, it has borne witness to innumerable historical and political milestones, demonstrations, rallies, celebrations and sporting events; transforming from a symbol of turmoil and division into one of peace and unity. Return home from a visit to Berlin without a picture of The Brandenburg Gate and no-one will believe you were there. Berlin is unimaginable without it.
An ageing fortress built in the aftermath of the Thirty Years' War was replaced in 1737 by a customs wall for the levying of taxes on goods going in or out of the city. The Brandenburg Gate, so called because it led to the town of Brandenburg an der Havel, was just one of the 14 original, undistinguished city entrances.
It did have one advantage over its siblings however; a prime spot at the end of Unter den Linden which led directly to the Royal City Palace, residence of the Prussian King, Frederick William II. He decided that on such occasions he wished to ride into the city, it really ought to be through something a little more striking. Something neoclassical perhaps, along the lines of the rather grandiose gateway to the Acropolis in Athens.
Designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans and built between 1789 and 1791; two rows of six Greek-style Doric columns, creating five passageways, form the basis of the 65.5m wide structure. Two years later it was ornamented with Johann Gottfried Schadow's Quadriga, driven by Eirene the goddess of peace to acknowledge many years of war coming to an end.
Only coaches belonging to the royal family were allowed to use the wider, central passageway. But when he defeated the Prussians in 1806, Napoleon took that honour for himself, riding through the Brandenburg Gate on his victory procession. Taking a fancy to the Quadriga, he had it relocated to Paris but before anyone there could decide what to do with it, the Prussian army re-invaded, thanked the French for a beautiful restoration job and took it back.
After the humiliation of its looting, the return of the Quadriga in 1814 endorsed the Gate as a symbol of triumph and national identity. Eirene became Victoria and was given the Iron Cross and Prussian eagle to go with her olive wreath, leaving no doubt she was now the goddess of victory. When the time came to demolish the excise wall, the Brandenburg Gate's political importance spared it from sharing the fate of the other 13 gates.
The Nazi Party certainly embraced its significance when they rose to power. On 30th January 1933, the day Hitler was appointed Chancellor, a torchlit procession passed through the Gate, proclaiming a thousand-year Reich. It ended 988 years short with street to street fighing in virtually the same spot.
Damaged but not destroyed during the Second World War, an east-west cooperative restoration effort proved pointless when the Berlin Wall rose to slice through the city. The Brandenburg Gate was literally part of it - abandoned and inaccessible in the middle of the death strip. An observation platform on the western side offered a frontline view into the domain behind the Iron Curtain.
Ronald Reagan and David Hasselhoff are two men without a great deal in common but they both earned an association with the Brandenburg Gate. Cold War relations were already defrosting when Reagan famously implored 'Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!', in June 1987. Two years later, the Wall was indeed being pulled down and one of the most iconic moments in German history sees thousands of people celebrating in front of the Brandenburg Gate, dancing on top of the Wall the night it fell.
In December 1989 the Gate reopened as a border crossing and hosted the first of the now customary New Year's Eve parties. By virtue of having a No.1 hit in Germany earlier that year, aptly titled 'Looking For Freedom', The Hoff was guest of honour. There are people in the world today who believe David Hasselhoff was responsible for the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Since reunification the Brandenburg Gate has come to represent German unity, peace and freedom. It received a six million euro refurbishment and now stands magnificently in the pedestrianised Pariser Platz as one of the world's most recognisable landmarks, presiding over countless gatherings of protest, solidarity and celebration.
Bagging a decent shot of the Brandenburg Gate isn't as easy as it might initially seem. The first dilemma is how on earth to deal with the ambling throng of tourists and their sycophants endlessly swarming around it. Then there's the problem of putting an original perspective on a subject that's photographed thousands of times a day. Well, problems require solutions.
During the day, the simple fact is you'll never get a photo that's free of infringers without supreme patience and maximum luck, so the trick is not to bother trying. Look around you instead. It won't be too long before you're witnessing a display of bizarre people behaviour which you can use to add some individualism to a scene, with the Gate acting as a backdrop. An interaction between a tourist and a street performer for example.
Focal length is an important technical point to consider. Distortion is often obvious in images of architectural subjects, especially if you're shooting with a wide angle lens. The Brandenburg Gate's distinct horizontal and vertical elements need to be kept as straight as possible because even slight deviations will appear exaggerated and make the photo seem unbalanced.
Barring a specialist tilt-shift lens, which only serious architectural photographers are likely to own, a 50mm prime is your best bet - the focal length that sees how your eyes see. Distortion is more pronounced around the edge of the frame so it's worth moving a bit further back (your zoom is your feet when you're using a prime lens) to allow space for cropping or distortion correction during post-processing. Losing a few pixels from the edge is no big deal as long as you're not cropping out any of the subject.
The evening grants more photographic opportunities - provided you have a tripod. There's fewer people around of course and using a long exposure will blur them into ghostly shadows or remove them from an image entirely if they're walking across your frame. Shooting during the blue hour can give spectacular results, the golden light illuminating the Gate contrasts beautifully with a darkening blue sky.
On special occasions you might even see projections on the Gate's eastern facade, such as the Schwarz-Rot-Gold of the German flag on Reunification Day or an artistic light show during the Festival Of Lights in October, which will certainly give you a unique image.
But for the perfect photograph you should treat yourself to a no-expense-spared trip and stay at the famous Hotel Adlon, which shares Pariser Platz with the Brandenburg Gate. Set your alarm for an hour before sunrise to catch the first rays hitting the Gate which faces directly East. Incidentally, next door to The Adlon you'll find The United States Embassy, which perhaps explains why so many US presidents feel compelled to make speeches in the vicinity.
