The Befreiungshalle is a historical classical monument upon Mount Michelsberg above the city of Kelheim

Kelheim

Kelheim is a municipality in Bavaria, capital of the district Kelheim. It is situated at the confluence of Altmühl and Danube. As of June 30, 2005, the town had a population of 15,667....

 in Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. It stands upstream of Regensburg

Regensburg

Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...

 on the river Danube

Danube

The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

 at the confluence of the Danube and the Altmühl

Altmühl

The Altmühl is a river in Bavaria, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Danube and is approximately 230 km in length.The source of the Altmühl is located close to the city of Ansbach. From here the river runs southeastwards as a narrow brook to enter the Altmühlsee north of Gunzenhausen...

, i.e. the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal

Rhine-Main-Danube Canal

The Rhine–Main–Danube Canal , located in Bavaria, Germany, connects the Main and the Danube rivers across the European Watershed, running from Bamberg via Nuremberg to Kelheim...

.

History

King Ludwig I of Bavaria

Ludwig I of Bavaria

Ludwig I was a German king of Bavaria from 1825 until the 1848 revolutions in the German states.-Crown prince:...

 ordered the Befreiungshalle to be built in order to commemorate the victories against Napoleon during the Wars of Liberation

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

 that lasted from 1813 to 1815.

The construction was started in 1842 by Friedrich von Gärtner

Friedrich von Gärtner

Friedrich von Gärtner was a German architect.Gärtner and Leo von Klenze are the most well known architects of Bavaria during the reign of Ludwig I. His architecture was generally in the Romanesque style and much to the king's taste...

 in a mixture of classical and Christian styles. At the behest of the King, Leo von Klenze

Leo von Klenze

Leo von Klenze was a German neoclassicist architect, painter and writer...

 altered the plans and completed the building in 1863. The ceremonial opening took place on October 18, 1863 - the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Nations (Völkerschlacht) near Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

.

The following dictum by King Ludwig I, embedded into the marble floor, commemorates the occasion of the construction of the Befreiungshalle:

MOECHTEN

DIE TEUTSCHEN

NIE VERGESSEN WAS

DEN BEFREIUNGSKAMPF

NOTHWENDIG MACHTE

UND WODURCH SIE

GESIEGT.

(May

the Germans

never forget what

made necessary

the Struggle for Freedom

and by what means they

won.)

This inscription of dedication is to be found above the ornamented door frame of the entrance portal:

DEN TEUTSCHEN

BEFREIUNGSKAEMPFERN

LUDWIG I

KOENIG VON BAYERN

(To the German

Liberation Fighters

Ludwig I

King of Bavaria)

See also

• Walhalla temple
  Walhalla temple
  The Walhalla temple is a hall of fame that honors laudable and distinguished Germans, famous personalities in German history — politicians, sovereigns, scientists and artists of the German tongue". The hall is housed in a neo-classical building above the Danube River, east of Regensburg, in...
  
   (Hall of the Slain, Regensburg, Germany)
• Ruhmeshalle (Hall of Fame, Munich, Germany)
• Heldenberg Memorial
  Heldenberg Memorial
  The Heldenberg Memorial is an open-air pantheon in the grounds of the castle at Kleinwetzdorf, Heldenberg, Lower Austria. It houses busts and statues of Austrian rulers and military personnel and was set up in 1849 by Joseph Gottfried Pargfrieder, a major supplier to the imperial army, who claimed...
  
  (in Austria)

External links

• Pictures and Information of the Befreiungshalle
• Befreiungshalle - Photos
• Official Website
• Gigapixel: 1.78 Gigapixel Photo (Flash-Player required )