Schillerdenkmal auf dem Schillerplatz (Stuttgart)

The Schillerdenkmal stands at the heart of Stuttgart’s Schillerplatz, a spacious square praised by local historian Gustav Wais as one of the city’s finest architectural spaces. The classical statue of Friedrich Schiller rises on a broad granite pedestal surrounded by historic buildings. Schiller faces the Old Castle while turning his back on the Prinzenbau, with the Old Chancellery to his left and the Stiftskirche and Fruchtkasten to his right. The monument was designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen and cast in bronze by Johann Baptist Stiglmaier in 1839. It was Germany’s first major poet’s statue and remains the oldest significant Schiller memorial. Nikolaus von Thouret and Gottlieb Bindesbøll planned the setting, giving the figure space yet keeping it close to the square’s edges. During festivals such as the wine village or Christmas market, stalls and crowds gather round, making the statue feel almost hidden in the lively scene. The statue shows Schiller as a powerful figure wrapped in a toga-like cloak over a ruffled shirt and knee-length frock coat. His lowered head suggests deep thought, framed by a laurel wreath above flowing curls. In his right hand he holds a stylus, in his left a book marked by his index finger. Four bronze reliefs on the pedestal depict scenes from his life, modelled by Thorvaldsen’s pupil Wilhelm Matthiä and cast in Munich. The five-step sandstone base and granite pedestal together reach about ten metres across, allowing the statue to dominate the square without feeling isolated.