Kaiser-Wilhelm-Denkmal, Hamburg

The Kaiser-Wilhelm-I.-Denkmal in Hamburg is a bronze equestrian statue honouring the first German emperor. It stands in the Wallanlagen park near the Sievekingplatz, just east of the city’s main justice buildings. The statue was moved here in 1930 after decades on the Rathausmarkt. The monument was commissioned soon after Wilhelm I’s death in 1888 and designed by Johannes Schilling. Its four allegorical groups represent unification, law, welfare and trade. The ensemble cost more than one million marks when it was unveiled in 1903 in front of the new Rathaus. Visitors find the re-erected statue on a low concrete plinth surrounded by the four bronze figures. The surrounding paths lead through the park’s lawns and flowerbeds. Two surviving lamp posts from the original setting stand nearby, and fragments of the granite balustrades survive in shop windows along the Gänsemarkt.