Bismarck-Denkmal (Barmen)

The Bismarck monument in the then independent town of Barmen (now a part of Wuppertal) was inaugurated in 1902. It comes from the Berlin sculptor Hugo Lederer and originally stood in front of the old town hall in Barmer on Werther Strasse (today's name: Werth); In the year the new Barmer town hall was completed, it was moved to its current location in front of the Barmer Hall of Fame on Geschwister-Scholl-Platz in autumn 1921.

The memorial shows Bismarck in the interim uniform of the Halberstätter cuirassiers, the regiment to which Bismarck belonged, on a 3.50 m high plinth made of Swedish granite. He holds the pallasch in his left hand. On the steps of the pedestal, at Bismarck's feet, sits the muse of history, Klio, “to write the great deeds of the mighty blacksmith into the book of history with an iron pen…” (Kölner Zeitung, No.50, January 19th, 1900). Bismarck ”adorns the lowest step of the monument.

On April 1st, 1895 Prince Otto von Bismarck, former Chancellor and former Prussian Prime Minister, celebrated his 80th birthday. On the occasion of this anniversary he received honorary citizenship from the city of Barmen and the citizens collected donations for a memorial in his honor at a jubilee ceremony in the Concordia. 110,000 marks came together. Hugo Lederer from Berlin was commissioned with the monument, which was unveiled on January 18, 1900 - the anniversary of the imperial proclamation in Versailles - in front of the old town hall in Barmer. In autumn 1921 the memorial was moved to its current location on Geschwister-Scholl-Platz next to the “Ruhmeshalle” (today the House of Youth), as the new Barmer town hall claimed the old location.

Source: denkmal-wuppertal.de/2011/04/das-barmer-bismarck-denkmal.html