The Most Remarkable Monuments in Germany
5 places · updated 14 October 2026
In short: By our ranking, the most remarkable monuments in Germany are Fernsehturm Berlin, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and Walhalla, Donaustauf. The list covers 5 monuments. Last updated 14 October 2026.
Germany's monuments carry an unusual weight because the country has used them to argue with its own history. Nineteenth-century kings built temples to a national past that did not yet exist as a state, the 20th century added towers of political rivalry, and reunified Berlin set aside a city block for remembrance rather than glory.
The Fernsehturm, completed in East Berlin in 1969, rises 368 metres and catches a cross of sunlight on its steel sphere, a reflection Berliners nicknamed the Pope's Revenge. Peter Eisenman's Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, opened in 2005, is a field of 2,711 concrete stelae on undulating ground, with no single way through. Walhalla, built for Ludwig I of Bavaria by Leo von Klenze, is a marble Doric temple on a hill above the Danube, filled with busts of celebrated Germans. In Leipzig, the Monument to the Battle of the Nations, finished for the battle's centenary in 1913, stacks colossal stone guardians inside a dark granite mass.
In this list
| # | Place | Type | UNESCO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fernsehturm Berlin | Observation tower | |
| 2 | Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe | War memorial | |
| 3 | Walhalla, Donaustauf | Monument | |
| 4 | Monument to the Battle of the Nations | Monument | |
| 5 | Igel Column | Archaeological site | ✓ |
01 Fernsehturm Berlin
Berliner Fernsehturm
Germany · 0.7 km from Berlin52.521° N 13.409° E
Image by BernardoUPloud from Pixabay Two lifts carry visitors up in about 40 seconds to the observation floor at about 203 metres, where on a clear day the view reaches some 42 km. A few steps above, a revolving restaurant turns slowly at 207 metres. The tower stands at the foot of Alexanderplatz, in the old Marienviertel, so the view from the top takes in both Berlin's oldest quarter and the broad socialist boulevards around it.
Did you know? Anyone choosing the stairs instead of the lifts would face 986 steps up the concrete shaft.
02 Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
Denkmal für die ermordeten Juden Europas
Germany · 1.8 km from Berlin52.514° N 13.379° E
Dietmar Rabich · CC BY-SA 4.0 This is a place of remembrance, and people who come here move through it quietly. The open field is accessible at any time.
Did you know? The original design called for nearly 4,000 stelae before it was scaled down.
03 Walhalla, Donaustauf
Walhalla
Germany · 7.7 km from Regensburg49.031° N 12.224° E
SimonWaldherr · CC BY-SA 4.0 Walhalla is at once a work of Romantic nationalism and one of the finest neoclassical buildings in Europe, and it is worth seeing as both: as a nineteenth-century statement about who belonged to the nation, and as a pure piece of architecture placed with great skill in a landscape. The view from the colonnade over the Danube plain towards Regensburg is part of the design.
Did you know? Because the test was the German tongue, early honorees include Dutch admirals, Flemish painters like Rubens and van Dyck, Swiss heroes and a Swedish king.
04 Monument to the Battle of the Nations
Völkerschlachtdenkmal
Germany · 2.6 km from Leipzig51.312° N 12.413° E
Image by lapping from Pixabay The monument has carried more than one meaning. In April 1945 it was the last redoubt in the city, held by a few hundred Volkssturm men and boys until American artillery forced a surrender; in East German years it was recast as a symbol of German–Russian brotherhood in arms. A long restoration between 2003 and 2019 stopped the water getting in and refilled the reflecting pool, and a handful of shell and bullet scars from 1945 were left in place on purpose. Locals simply call it the "Völki".
Did you know? The foundation slab alone measures 70 by 80 metres and is two metres thick, and work on the foundations took five years.
05 Igel Column
Igeler Säule
Germany · 9.5 km from Grevenmacher49.709° N 6.549° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Enyavar · Public domain Trier, a few kilometres downstream, was founded by the Romans as Augusta Treverorum and served for a time as an imperial residence; its Porta Nigra gate, basilica and baths still dominate the city centre.
Did you know? A milestone carved on one relief reads four Gallic leagues, close to the real distance to Trier.
How this list is ranked
Places are chosen for how they look, not for how famous they are: each one has its own description and a photograph credited to its author. The order is a single world ranking that weighs the beauty of the place in curated photography together with how widely it is documented — the number of language editions of its encyclopedia article and how often that article is read in a year. The list is rebuilt as places are added, so the order and the counts on this page are always current.
Questions people ask
- What are the most remarkable monuments in Germany?
- On our list, Fernsehturm Berlin ranks first, followed by Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and Walhalla, Donaustauf.
- How tall is the Berlin TV Tower?
- The Fernsehturm stands 368 metres including its antenna, making it the tallest structure in Germany. It was built by the East German government and opened in 1969.
- What is Walhalla in Bavaria?
- Walhalla is a hall of fame commissioned by King Ludwig I of Bavaria and designed by Leo von Klenze in the form of a Greek temple. Opened in 1842 above the Danube near Regensburg, it holds busts and plaques of notable figures of German history, and new ones are still added.
- What does the Monument to the Battle of the Nations commemorate?
- It commemorates the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, where the allied armies defeated Napoleon. The monument was inaugurated in 1913, exactly one hundred years later.
- How many monuments are on this list in Germany?
- The list covers 5 monuments.