Siegestor
The northern end of Ludwigstraße, built by Gärtner in 1850 as a triumphal arch. Severely damaged in the war; the copper Bavaria quadriga has faced Schwabing ever since. Inscription: "Dedicated to victory, destroyed by war, urging peace".
A triumphal arch with a second inscription
From 1843 to 1850 Friedrich von Gärtner built the Siegestor at the northern end of Ludwigstraße — as a counterpart to the Feldherrnhalle at the southern end. Three arched passages, Corinthian columns, crowned by a 6.30 m Bavaria quadriga in repoussé copper (Johann Martin von Wagner). The original inscription: "To the Bavarian Army" — in thanks for the Bavarian troops in the Wars of Liberation against Napoleon.
Severely damaged in the Second World War. In the 1958 reconstruction Munich deliberately decided against full restoration: the rear partly remained in ruined state. The new inscription, formulated by the writer Wilhelm Hausenstein, has read since then: "Dedicated to victory, destroyed by war, urging peace" — one of the most concise and effective sentences in German post-war memory culture.
More in the
University Quarter.
The other buildings of the area — galleries, museums, classicism, industrial history.