Barbara-Denkmal

The Barbara monument stands on the Friedrich-Ebert-Ring in Koblenz, a city where the Rheinisches Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 8 was once based. It was built in 1907 to honour soldiers from that regiment who died in the 19th-century unification wars. The monument was damaged during the Second World War and dismantled in 1956 when the road layout changed. The monument is not a typical war memorial but a peace reminder, as speeches at its 2015 unveiling made clear. Its sculptor, Georg Schreyögg, created three figures: Saint Barbara, an allegory of war, and an allegory of peace. The bronze name plaques for the fallen regiment were lost in the war and never replaced. Visitors find the restored monument set in a small paved area near the Christuskirche. Water still flows from twelve spouts around the base, as it did originally. The central statue of Saint Barbara holds a cannon muzzle closed and a palm branch. The seated male figure of war rests one hand on his sword hilt without drawing it.