Monument to the Battle of the Nations

On the south-eastern edge of Leipzig a mountain of dark granite rises 91 metres above a long reflecting pool. It marks the ground of the Battle of Leipzig of 16–19 October 1813, when the armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden broke Napoleon in the largest clash Europe had seen until then, with roughly 110,000 dead and wounded. The first spade went into the ground on the 85th anniversary in 1898, and the monument was inaugurated on the centenary, 18 October 1913, before a crowd of about 100,000 that included the Kaiser and the ruling princes of the German states. When it opened it was the tallest monument in Europe.

The design is by the Berlin architect Bruno Schmitz, already the author of the Kyffhäuser Monument and the Deutsches Eck, with Clemens Thieme shaping much of the final form, and it deliberately turns away from the classical idiom of its day towards something older and heavier, closer to Mesopotamian and Egyptian models. The shell is concrete dressed in some 26,500 granite blocks. A relief 60 metres wide spreads across the front, with the Archangel Michael at the centre of the battle, and around the crown stand twelve stone warriors 13 metres tall, each assembled from 47 blocks. The sculpture is by Christian Behrens, and after his death in 1905 by Franz Metzner, whose brooding, compressed figures give the building much of its strange power.

Inside, the mood darkens further. In the circular crypt sixteen stone warriors keep watch over a symbolic tomb, and above them eight giant death masks, each six metres high, look down. On the next level four colossal figures, each 9.5 metres tall, personify the virtues the builders wanted Germany to see in itself: bravery, faith, the strength of the people and sacrifice. The dome above rises to 68 metres and is lined with 324 near life-size horsemen riding home from the war; its acoustics are good enough for concerts. A stair of 364 steps climbs from the crypt to the outer gallery at the top, where the whole of Leipzig and its flat surroundings lie open.

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".

Getting there

The monument stands about 4 km south-east of central Leipzig. Leipzig/Halle Airport (LEJ) is about 17 km away. From the main station, tram line 15 stops at Völkerschlachtdenkmal, and S-Bahn lines S1, S2 and S3 serve Leipzig-Völkerschlachtdenkmal station nearby. There is also a large park-and-ride car park at the site.