Schwerin Victory Column

The Siegessäule stands in the centre of Schwerin’s Alter Garten, a small green square bordered by the Schloßstraße and Graf-Schack-Allee. It was raised in 1873–74 for Friedrich Franz II to commemorate the Mecklenburg soldiers who fell in the Franco-Prussian War. The 23-metre column is crowned by a bronze figure of Megalopolis, the personification of Mecklenburg, and has been part of the Schwerin Residence ensemble on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 2024.

The monument’s history is marked by the 1873 laying of the foundation stone with the words “Den Gefallenen zum Gedächtnis. Den Lebenden zur Mahnung.” In 1947 a nearby air-raid shelter was demolished, causing the column to sway but remain intact. A 1994 survey found the surrounding terraces and platforms damaged, yet most original granite parts could be reused. The bronze plaques list 796 names of the dead, and the Megalopolis statue was restored in 2021 to its original colour scheme.

Visitors approach through six steps to a mosaic-paved forecourt where gas-powered candelabra once stood. Four more steps lead to a circular walk around the red Swedish granite shaft. The blue-grey Saxon granite pedestal bears the dedicatory inscription and bronze plaques naming the fallen. Above rises the Corinthian capital and the 2.6-metre figure of Megalopolis, crowned with the Wendish crown, sword and laurel wreath in hand, her left arm holding a shield with the Mecklenburg bull’s head.