Nationaldenkmal auf dem Kreuzberg

National Monument on Kreuzberg: Free View in Viktoriapark

At 66 meters, Kreuzberg is the highest natural elevation in the inner city, and at the very top of Viktoriapark stands the National Monument for the Liberation Wars. Karl Friedrich Schinkel designed it between 1817 and 1821, and it was inaugurated on March 30, 1821, the anniversary of the Allies’ entry into Paris. Except for a small brick core, the monument is entirely made of cast iron, including the twelve larger-than-life figures representing the most important battle locations. Between 1875 and 1878, the entire monument was hydraulically lifted, placed on an eight-meter-high granite and sandstone plinth, and rotated towards Großbeerenstraße. A two-armed grand staircase leads to the platform on this plinth. From there, the view extends over the rooftops of Kreuzberg to the north into the city center and to the west along Monumentenstraße towards Schöneberg. Visiting is free, as Viktoriapark is a public green space and the monument is freely accessible. This makes Kreuzberg one of the few high points in the city for which neither a ticket nor a time slot is required.

Waterfall, Park History and Directions to the Kreuzberg Monument

The ascent is part of the experience at the National Monument on Kreuzberg. Viktoriapark was designed between 1888 and 1894 according to plans by garden director Hermann Mächtig and is considered the only almost completely preserved Berlin city park from the Historicism era. Its centerpiece is the 24-meter-high artificial waterfall from 1893, a naturalistic replica of the Hainfall waterfall in the Giant Mountains, which plunges down the slope through a rocky gorge. Those who take the path up alongside it will have the monument in view repeatedly. Beneath the plinth lies an extensive brick vault, which today serves as one of the city’s largest bat roosts and is only accessible on a few guided days each year. Public transport can be reached via the U6 at Platz der Luftbrücke U-Bahn station, or by bus 140 to the Kreuzberg Wasserfall stop. Because the trees are dense in summer, visibility is best in autumn and winter.