Walhalla memorial

Walhalla, seen from the Danube

Exterior view from northwest

360 degrees panorama view inside the Walhalla memorial, Germany

The Walhalla is a hall of fame that honors laudable and distinguished people in German history – "politicians, sovereigns, scientists and artists of the German tongue";^[1] thus the celebrities honored are drawn from a wider area than today's Germany. The hall is a neo-classical building above the Danube River, east of Regensburg in Bavaria.

The Walhalla is named for the Valhalla of Norse mythology. It was conceived in 1807 by Crown Prince Ludwig in order to support the then-gathering momentum for the unification of the many German states. Following his accession to the throne of Bavaria, construction took place between 1830 and 1842 under the supervision of the architect Leo von Klenze.

The memorial displays some 65 plaques and 130 busts covering 2,000 years of history, beginning with Arminius, victor at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD.

History

Walhalla colonnade

Walhalla main hall

By 1806 Napoleon's First French Empire had annexed German lands along the Rhine River and the North Sea. Central German states formed the Confederation of the Rhine, which sided with Napoleon. Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, then formally dissolved the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (6 August 1806) and instead styled himself Emperor of Austria. The War of the Fourth Coalition (1806-1807) pitted German forces on both sides against each other, and Napoleon again prevailed.

In 1807, 20-year-old Crown Prince Ludwig of the Kingdom of Bavaria (newly elevated from Electorate to Kingdom by Napoleon in 1806), had the idea of reminding all Germans of their common heritage – of the great figures and events in ethnic German history. He commissioned several sculptors to create busts of famous individuals of his choice. Johann Gottfried Schadow's bust of Nicolaus Copernicus became one of the first completed, in 1807. Further suggestions for individuals to be honored were solicited in 1808 from Swiss historian Johannes von Müller.

By the time of Crown Prince Ludwig's coronation as King Ludwig I of Bavaria in 1825, 60 busts had been completed. In 1826 Ludwig commissioned the construction of a memorial above the Danube River, near Regensburg, modeled after the Parthenon in Athens. The southern pediment frieze features the 1815 creation of the German Confederation; the northern, scenes from the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest of 9 AD.^[2] According to Pictorial Travels Continentally Described (circa 1892), the construction of the building cost £666,666.

At Walhalla's inauguration on October 18, 1842, there were 96 busts, plus 64 plaques for persons or events of which no portrait was available on which to model a sculpture. As being "of the German tongue" was the main selection criterion for the original 160 persons representing the 1,800 years of German history, the King included persons from, or who had been active in, modern-day Sweden, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, United Kingdom, Belgium, Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland and the Baltic States.

Whereas the Valhalla of Norse mythology served as home to those gloriously slain in battle, Ludwig intended his Walhalla not only for warriors but also for scientists, writers, and clerics, and specifically included both men and women. Decades before the foundation of the modern German state in 1871, "German" was understood as "Germanic", and included Gothic, Langobardic, Anglo-Saxon, Austrian, Dutch and Swiss German figures, as well as persons who had gained fame mainly in non-German-speaking contexts.

Beginning in 1933, when Kraft durch Freude and other National Socialist organizations promoted trips to Walhalla, visitor numbers increased exponentially. In 1937, when Hitler unveiled a Bruckner bust, 131,520 were counted. In April 1945, General George Smith Patton, Jr. stood there, as men of his 3rd Army were crossing the Danube River.^[3]

As successor to the King, the government of Bavaria decides on additions. Anyone may propose a name, but candidates must have died at least 20 years before becoming eligible (doubled in 1912). Only 31 busts have been added since its opening, on an irregular basis, for a total of 191, twelve of them female. A number of the additions since the Second World War are of people who had been opposed to the National Socialists, and an especially prominent place at the end of the series is allotted to Sophie Scholl, a Munich student who was executed in 1943 for her non-violent resistance to Hitler's régime.

In Munich, King Ludwig I established an additional Hall of Fame for Bavarians in 1853 – the Ruhmeshalle München. Nine of the Bavarian enshrinees have since become Walhalla enshrinees. Thus, their busts in the Ruhmeshalle, which were destroyed in 1944 during World War II, have not been recreated. Instead, a plaque with their names tells of their transfer to Walhalla. King Ludwig I himself, who commissioned the Befreiungshalle and other monuments, was also enshrined both at Walhalla and in the Ruhmeshalle.

List of people

Commemorative plaques

Statue of King Ludwig I (no. 63, 1890), builder of the hall

Fritigern, Leader of the Visigoths (second plaque from the top left)

Plaques were made for people (or acts) of which no portraits or descriptions were available to model sculptures after. The timeline spans from Arminius a.k.a. Hermann der Cherusker (born 17 BC) to watchmaker Peter Henlein, who died in 1542. In 2003 a plaque was added to commemorate well-known and unknown German Resistance fighters against Nazi Germany.

1. Alaric I – king of the Visigoths
2. Albertus Magnus – philosopher and theologian
3. Alboin – king of the Lombards
4. Alfred the Great – King of Wessex
5. Alcuin – Charlemagne's leading advisor on ecclesiastical and educational affairs
6. Arnulf of Carinthia – Holy Roman Emperor
7. Arnulf, Duke of Bavaria – Arnulf the Bad, confiscated church property for defense
8. Athaulf – king of the Visigoths
9. Bede – monk and scholar
10. Bernward of Hildesheim – Bishop of Hildesheim
11. Saint Boniface – Patron saint of Germany
12. Adrian von Bubenberg – Swiss knight and general
13. Clovis I – King of the Franks
14. Julius Civilis (* 25), leader of Germanic rebellion against Rome in 69
15. Egbert of Wessex (770–839), considered the first de facto King of England, grandfather of Alfred the Great
16. Eginhard – historian
17. Elisabeth of Hungary – Saint and Hungarian princess
18. Emmeram of Regensburg – Saint
19. Engelbert II of Berg – Saint
20. Friediger
21. Frederick I of Austria (Habsburg) Duke of Austria and King of the Romans
22. Geiseric – King of the Vandals and Alans
23. Gerhard von Rile – architect of the Cologne Cathedral
24. Peter Henlein – inventor of the watch
25. Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor
26. Hengest – leader of the Germanic invasion of Britain in the 5th century
27. Heribert of Cologne – Archbishop of Cologne and Chancellor of Emperor Otto III
28. Ermanaric – King of the Ostrogoths
29. Hermann der Cherusker – victor in the Battle of Teutoburg Forest
30. Hermann von Salza – fourth Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights
31. Hildegard von Bingen a German magistra, monastic leader, mystic, author, and composer of music.
32. Horsa – warrior, and brother of Hengest
33. Hrosvit – a twelfth century canoness, Latin language poet, and pioneer dramatist of Gandersheim Abbey, Lower Saxony
34. Charles Martel – the Hammer, defeated the Arabs at the Battle of Tours
35. Charlemagne – founder of the Holy Roman Empire
36. Lambrecht von Aschaffenburg
37. Leopold VI, Duke of Austria
38. Marbod – king of the Marcomanni
39. Mechtilde – Saint
40. The writer of the Nibelungenlied
41. Odoacer – chieftain of the Germanic, deposed the last Western Roman Emperor
42. Otto II Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria
43. Otto of Bamberg – canonized medieval German bishop who as papal legate converted much of Pomerania to Christianity.
44. Otto of Freising – Bishop of Freising
45. Otto I Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria
46. Pippin of Herstal, Mayor of the Palace
47. Pippin the Younger, Mayor of the Palace
48. Rabanus Maurus, Benedictine monk, archbishop of Mainz
49. The three of the Rütli-Schwur (Swiss confederation)
    

    Oath on the Rütli
50. Theudelinde
51. Theodoric I – King of the Visigoths
52. Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths and of the Visigoths
53. Arnold zum Turm
54. Totila, king of the Ostrogoths
55. Ulfilas, Gothic bishop, missionary, and translator.
56. Veleda, prophetess of the Bructeri during the Batavian rebellion
57. Walther von der Vogelweide, celebrated poet of Middle High German lyric
58. Bruno von Warendorp – mayor of Lübeck
59. Paul Warnefried – Paul the Deacon
60. Meister Wilhelm von Köln
61. Saint Willibrord, Northumbrian missionary, known as the Apostle to the Frisians
62. Arnold von Winkelried, hero of the Swiss
63. Widukind – duke of Saxony and antagonist of Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars
64. Wolfram von Eschenbach, a German knight, Minnesinger and epic poet
65. Widerstand – German Resistance fighters against Nazi Germany. Added in 2003

Busts

The original busts are arranged in rows by date of death, beginning with Henry the Fowler (born 876 AD) and ending with Goethe (died 1832).

Original busts (before 1847)

Marble busts No. 6-14, Mozart in the bottom center

Copernicus, by Schadow (1807, No. 52)

Ludwig van Beethoven (No. 65)

The fifth bust group (No. 90 to 110)

Wilhelm Graf zu Schaumburg-Lippe (No. 124)

Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock

1. Amalie Elisabeth – Countess of Hesse-Kassel during the Thirty Years' War
2. August II the Strong – Elector of Saxony and King of Poland
3. Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly – Russian Field Marshal from Baltic German family of Scottish descent
4. Ludwig van Beethoven – German composer from the classical period
5. Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar – general in the Thirty Years' War
6. Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher – Prussian Generalfeldmarschall
7. Herman Boerhaave – Dutch humanist and physician
8. Gottfried August Bürger – poet
9. Christoph, Duke of Württemberg – Duke of Württemberg
10. Johann von Dalberg – Bishop of Worms
11. Hans Karl von Diebitsch – Russian field marshal, born in Silesia
12. Albrecht Dürer – printmaker and painter
13. Anthony van Dyck – Flemish painter and etcher
14. Eberhard I. of Württemberg – Duke of Württemberg
15. Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn – Bishop of Würzburg
16. Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff – poet
17. Erasmus of Rotterdam – Dutch humanist
18. Ernst I – Duke of Saxe-Gotha and Saxe-Altenburg during the Thirty Years' War
19. Jan van Eyck – Flemish painter
20. Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg – Prussian Generalfeldmarschall
21. Frederick I, Elector Palatine – the Victorious, Elector of the Palatinate
22. Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor – Barbarossa
23. Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor – Stupor mundi
24. Frederick II of Prussia – Frederick the Great
25. Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg – the Great Elector
26. Georg von Frundsberg – Knight and leader of Landsknechts
27. Jakob Fugger – the Rich, merchant in Augsburg
28. Ernst Gideon Freiherr von Laudon – Austrian field marshal from Livonia
29. Christoph Willibald Gluck – composer
30. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – poet and polymath
31. Johann Joseph von Görres – writer
32. Hugo Grotius – Dutch jurist
33. Otto von Guericke – German scientist and inventor
34. Johannes Gutenberg – inventor of movable type
35. Albrecht von Haller – Swiss anatomist and physiologist
36. Hans von Hallwyl – Swiss commander at the Battle of Morat
37. Georg Friedrich Händel – German baroque composer
38. Joseph Haydn – Austrian composer from the classical period
39. Henry the Lion – Duke of Saxony and Bavaria
40. Henry the Fowler – Duke of Saxony and King of the Germans
41. Johann Jakob Wilhelm Heinse – German author
42. Berthold von Henneberg – Elector and Archbishop of Mainz
43. Johann Gottfried Herder – German poet, critic, and theologian
44. Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel – German astronomer and composer
45. Hans Holbein the Younger – German painter
46. Ulrich von Hutten – German knight and Renaissance humanist
47. Friedrich Ludwig Jahn – German patriot and father of gymnastics
48. Immanuel Kant – German philosopher from the classical period
49. Archduke Charles of Austria – Austrian military commander
50. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
51. Charles V, Duke of Lorraine
52. Charles X Gustav of Sweden – King of Sweden
53. Catherine II of Russia, Catherine the Great – Tsarina of Russia
54. Johannes Kepler – German mathematician and astronomer
55. Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock – German poet
56. Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor
57. Nicolaus Copernicus – Polish astronomer and native in German, the first to thoroughly calculate a heliocentric model of the universe
58. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz – German philosopher and mathematician
59. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing – German poet from the age of enlightenment
60. Justus von Liebig – German chemist
61. Paris Graf von Lodron – Archbishop of Salzburg
62. Ludwig Wilhelm von Baden – Türkenlouis, Imperial commander
63. Ludwig I – King of Bavaria
64. Maria Theresia – Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia
65. Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
66. Maximilian I – Prince-elector of Bavaria
67. Hans Memling – Flemish painter
68. Raphael Mengs – Bohemian painter
69. Maurice of Orange – Dutch captain-general of the army of the Dutch Republic
70. Maurice of Saxony – German commander and military strategist
71. Justus Möser – German historian
72. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Austrian composer from the classical period
73. Johannes Müller (Regiomontanus) – German astronomer and mathematician
74. Johannes von Müller – Swiss historian
75. Burkhard Christoph Graf von Münnich – German field marshal in Russian service
76. August Graf Neidhardt von Gneisenau – Prussian field marshal
77. Nicholas of Flue – Swiss hermit, ascetic and mystic
78. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor
79. Theophrast von Hohenheim Paracelsus – 17th century Swiss physician and alchemist
80. Jean Paul – German humorist
81. Max von Pettenkofer – German chemist and hygienist
82. Wolter von Plettenberg – German Master of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword
83. Johannes von Reuchlin – German philosopher and humanist
84. Peter Paul Rubens – Flemish painter
85. Rudolf I of Habsburg – German king
86. Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter – Dutch admiral
87. Gerhard von Scharnhorst – Prussian general
88. Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling – German philosopher
89. Friedrich von Schiller – German poet and exponent of Sturm und Drang
90. Johann Philipp von Schönborn – Archbishop and Prince-elector of Mainz
91. Karl Philipp Fürst zu Schwarzenberg – Austrian field marshal
92. Franz von Sickingen – leader of the knighthood in Rhineland and Swabia
93. Frans Snyders – Flemish painter
94. Karl vom und zum Stein – Prussian politician
95. Erwin von Steinbach – German architect of the Straßburger Münster
96. Adalbert Stifter – Austrian author
97. Johannes Aventinus (Johann Georg Turmair) – Bavarian scholar and historian
98. Maximilian von und zu Trauttmansdorff – Austrian diplomat that negotiated the Peace of Westphalia
99. Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp – Dutch admiral
100. Aegidius Tschudi – Swiss composer
101. Peter Vischer the elder – German Sculptor
102. Albrecht von Wallenstein – Bohemian general in the Thirty Years' War
103. Christoph Martin Wieland – German Poet
104. Wilhelm Graf zu Schaumburg-Lippe – Commander of his army in the Seven Years' War and for Portugal
105. William I of Orange – Dutch leader of the Eighty Years' War for the Dutch independence from Spain
106. William III of Orange – Dutch Stadtholder and king of England, Scotland, and Ireland
107. Johann Joachim Winckelmann – German archeologist and art writer
108. Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf – German religious and social reformer, bishop of the Moravian Church

Later additions (after 1847)

Marble busts No. 125-128, Sophie Scholl in the bottom center

sorted chronologically by year of addition

1. Martin Luther (1848) – Leader of the Protestant Reformation, translator of the Bible into German; Heinrich Heine had remarked upon this omission.
2. Josef Wenzel Graf Radetzky von Radetz (1853) – Bohemian military leader
3. Wilhelm I (1898) – German Emperor
4. Otto von Bismarck (1908) – Chancellor of North German Confederation and then of the German Empire
5. Helmuth Graf von Moltke (1910) – German Generalfeldmarschall
6. Richard Wagner (1913) – German composer of operas
7. Johann Sebastian Bach (1916) – composer
8. Franz Peter Schubert (1928) – Austrian Romantic composer
9. Anton Bruckner (1937) – Austrian composer
10. Max Reger (1948) – German composer and organist of the late romantic period
11. Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1959) – German physicist
12. Richard Strauss (1973) – German composer
13. Carl Maria von Weber (1978) – German composer
14. Gregor Joh. Mendel (1983) – Silesian Augustinian monk and naturalist^[4]
15. Albert Einstein (1990) – physicist
16. Karolina Gerhardinger (1998) – founder of the School Sisters of Notre Dame
17. Konrad Adenauer (1999) – first Chancellor of West Germany
18. Johannes Brahms (2000) – Composer
19. Sophie Scholl (2003) – German passive resistance activist against the Nazi regime.^[5]
20. Carl Friedrich Gauss (2007) – mathematician, astronomer, and physicist^[6]
21. Edith Stein (2008) – philosopher and saint
22. Heinrich Heine (2009) – German Romantic poet

Song for the opening of Walhalla memorial

When the memorial was opened in 1842, Joseph Hartmann Stuntz authored a poem about Germany's greatness which was set to music by Joseph Hartmann Stuntz.^[7] The lyrics are:

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Walhalla.

• Befreiungshalle (Hall of Liberation, Kelheim, Germany)
• Heldenberg Memorial (in Austria)
• Hermannsdenkmal (Hermann monument, Teutoburg Forest, Germany)
• Ruhmeshalle (Hall of Fame, Munich, Germany)

Literature

• Walhalla, official guide booklet, translated by Helen Stellner and David Hiley, Bernhard Bosse Verlag Regensburg, 2002
• Eveline G. Bouwers, Public Pantheons in Revolutionary Europe. Comparing Cultures of Remembrance, c. 1790-1840, Basingstoke 2012, pp. 161-212 (ISBN 978-0-230-29471-4)
• Adalbert Müller: Donaustauf and Walhalla (1846) at archive.org

References

External links

Look up Walhalla in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Walhalla official website
• New York Times: Two Temples To the Greats Of Germany, 1988

Coordinates: 49°01′53.35″N 12°13′26.72″E / 49.0314861°N 12.2240889°E / 49.0314861; 12.2240889