German National Monuments (V): Hermann Monument near Detmold, North Rhine-Westphalia
The monument was built between 1838 and 1875 Arminius, chief of the Cheruski, who famously won the Battle in the Teutoburg Forest against the Romans. It is located on top of the Grotenburg Hill in the Teutoburger Wald, a range of low mountains in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The statue was for 11 years the tallest statue of the world until the Statue of Liberty was finished. the figure is 26.5 m tall, the sword alone is 7 meters long.
By the time the monument was built, the battle was thought to have taken place in the immediate vicinity. Today, archeological research has placed the battle near Kalkriese, 100 km north-west of the statue.
The monument has been interpreted in many ways. Nationalists saw Arminius as the founder of the German nation as he united several germanic tribes for the battle agains the Roman army. National-liberals pointed out that the monument symbolized the liberation of the peoples of the world from foreign domination. During the Weimar Republic, the monument became a gathering place for the Nazi party and other right-extremist groups, despite democratic parties emphasizing its national-democratic history. The Nazi government, however, did not list the monument as a National Pilgrimage Site. After world war II., there were discussions to remove the inscriptions, which were perceived as nationalist after the Nazi didcatorship. In the end, it was decided to leave them. During the German division, some political parties saw a symbol of German unity in the monument. Today, it is understood as a place of peaceful appeal to the unity of Germany and the freedom of all nations.
More than 500,000 people visit the monument every year. The gallery of the base can be visited for a small entrance fee and provides an excellent distance view over more than 100 km on clear days. In the very beginning, it was possible to climb into the statue with ladders, but this was stopped soon because some accidents happened. Legend has it that a visitor fell out of one of the nostrils, but this is impossible as they are too narrow for a person to squeeze through.
In New Ulm, Minnesota, there is a copy of the monument, the Hermann Heights Monument. There is also a little statue on top of an art-nouveau-house in Detmold, directly facing its giant counterpart.
Due to its prominence, the statue tends to attract lightning strikes. On average, it it struck 234 times per year by lightning without sustaining damage. Due to this circumstance, measuring equipment has been installed at the monument, serving for lightning research.
