Niederwald Monument

The pride of the Kaiserreich was often an embarrassment to the 20th century. Monumental and overloaded with meaning, the Niederwald Monument commemorates the founding of a small German confederation after the victory in the Franco-Prussian War. Today it is one of the best-visited monuments in Germany.

History

In Rüdesheim on the Rhine, at a magnificent vantage point, stands a "Prussian Madonna". The nickname originated in the Rheingau for the "Germania", the colossal statue of the Niederwalddenkmal. Indeed, a trip to see her takes you back to a time that was largely under Prussian rule. Picturesquely situated at the entrance to the UNESCO World Heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley, the monument commemorates the founding of the German Empire after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71, when 25 individual states were united into one nation and Germania embodied it: Her crown raised and her sword peacefully lowered, she looks towards the new state formation, keeping the "watch on the Rhine".

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