Bavaria

About

Bavaria is the name given to a monumental, bronze sand-cast 19th-century statue in Munich, southern Germany. It is a female personification of the Bavarian homeland, and by extension its strength and glory. The statue is part of an ensemble which also includes a hall of fame (Ruhmeshalle) and a stairway. It was commissioned by Ludwig I of Bavaria, with the specific design being chosen by competition. It was cast at the Munich foundry of J.B. Stiglmair between 1844 and 1850 and is the first colossal statue since Classical Antiquity to consist entirely of cast bronze. It was and is up to the present day considered a technological masterpiece. Because of its size it had to be produced in several parts; it is 18.52 metres (60 ft. 9 in.) high and weighs about 87.36 tons. It rests on a stone base which is 8.92 (28 ft.) metres high. An internal circular staircase leads up to a platform in the head, where four openings in the helmet provide a view of the Theresienwiese and downtown Munich.

Because it forms a logical and artistic unit together with the Bavaria statue, a brief description of the historical background and construction of the Hall of Fame follows.

The childhood of Ludwig I was marked by the claims to power of Napoleon on the one hand, and Austria on the other. At that time the venerable House of Wittelsbach which he represented had been reduced to a plaything for the ambitions of these two major powers. Up until 1805, when Napoleon “freed” Munich in the War of the Second Coalition and made Ludwig's father, Maximilian, king of Bavaria, that nation had repeatedly been a theater of war and had suffered the disastrous consequences. Only after Napoleon's defeat in the Battle of Leipzig in 1813 did Bavaria enjoy a period of peace.

This history prompted Ludwig already when he was crown prince to think in terms of a “Bavaria comprising all tribes” and of a “great German nation”. These goals motivated him in following years to undertake several projects involving the construction of national monuments like the pillar commemorating the Bavarian constitution of 1818 in Gaibach, the Walhalla temple on an imposing platform overlooking the Danube river and the town of Donaustauf east of Regensburg, the Hall of Fame in Munich (1853) and the Befreiungshalle (“Hall of Liberation”) near Kelheim (1863), all of which were privately financed by the king. In their design and contents, purpose and reception they convey an artistic and political harmony unique in Germany, despite their inner contradictions.

Ludwig, who acceded to the throne upon the death of his father in 1825, felt a spiritual closeness to Greece, was an enthusiastic admirer of Ancient Greece, and wanted to turn his capital city of Munich into an “Athens on the Isar River”. Ludwig's second born son Otto was proclaimed King of Greece in 1832.

Already as crown prince Ludwig had the plan to erect a patriotic monument in his royal capital of Munich. He consequently had lists drawn up of “great” Bavarians from all walks of life. In 1833 he launched a competition which was intended to collect preliminary ideas for the design of a hall of fame and thus only specified the project's key features: the hall was to be erected above the Theresienwiese and provide space for about 200 busts. The only requirement was, “... that the building should not duplicate the Walhalla; as many Doric temples as there were, none of them was a copy of the Parthenon....”

The regulations did not exclude a building in the style of the Classicists as in the Walhalla, a parallel construction project, but it can be assumed that the architects were free to submit other architectural styles. Since the proposals of all four participants have survived to a large extent, they provide an interesting glimpse at the construction history of the Hall of Fame at a time of ideological artistic disputes between the Classicists on the one side, who were inspired by the aesthetics of Antique Greece and Rome, and the Romanticists on the other side, whose artistic manifestations were expressed in Medieval terms. Thus the proposals submitted for the design of the Hall of Fame reflected not only artistic and architectural differences, but these ideological disputes as well. Ludwig finally decided in March 1834, primarily for reasons of expense, against the proposals of Friedrich von Gärtner, Joseph Daniel Ohlmüller and Friedrich Ziebland, and commissioned Leo von Klenze to construct the Hall of Fame. He was undoubtedly influenced by the colossal statue in Klenze's design, since such a huge statue had not been erected since Classical Antiquity. Flattered by the idea of erecting a statue which would be as imposing as those commissioned by the rulers of antiquity, after deciding in favor of Klenze's design Ludwig I wrote, “Only Nero and I can produce such giant statues....”

The childhood of Ludwig I was marked by the claims to power of Napoleon on the one hand, and Austria on the other. At that time the venerable House of Wittelsbach which he represented had been reduced to a plaything for the ambitions of these two major powers. Up until 1805, when Napoleon “freed” Munich in the War of the Second Coalition and made Ludwig's father, Maximilian, king of Bavaria, that nation had repeatedly been a theater of war and had suffered the disastrous consequences. Only after Napoleon's defeat in the Battle of Leipzig in 1813 did Bavaria enjoy a period of peace.

This history prompted Ludwig already when he was crown prince to think in terms of a “Bavaria comprising all tribes” and of a “great German nation”. These goals motivated him in following years to undertake several projects involving the construction of national monuments like the pillar commemorating the Bavarian constitution of 1818 in Gaibach, the Walhalla temple on an imposing platform overlooking the Danube river and the town of Donaustauf east of Regensburg, the Hall of Fame in Munich (1853) and the Befreiungshalle (“Hall of Liberation”) near Kelheim (1863), all of which were privately financed by the king. In their design and contents, purpose and reception they convey an artistic and political harmony unique in Germany, despite their inner contradictions.

Ludwig, who acceded to the throne upon the death of his father in 1825, felt a spiritual closeness to Greece, was an enthusiastic admirer of Ancient Greece, and wanted to turn his capital city of Munich into an “Athens on the Isar River”. Ludwig's second born son Otto was proclaimed King of Greece in 1832.

Already as crown prince Ludwig had the plan to erect a patriotic monument in his royal capital of Munich. He consequently had lists drawn up of “great” Bavarians from all walks of life. In 1833 he launched a competition which was intended to collect preliminary ideas for the design of a hall of fame and thus only specified the project's key features: the hall was to be erected above the Theresienwiese and provide space for about 200 busts. The only requirement was, “... that the building should not duplicate the Walhalla; as many Doric temples as there were, none of them was a copy of the Parthenon....”

The regulations did not exclude a building in the style of the Classicists as in the Walhalla, a parallel construction project, but it can be assumed that the architects were free to submit other architectural styles. Since the proposals of all four participants have survived to a large extent, they provide an interesting glimpse at the construction history of the Hall of Fame at a time of ideological artistic disputes between the Classicists on the one side, who were inspired by the aesthetics of Antique Greece and Rome, and the Romanticists on the other side, whose artistic manifestations were expressed in Medieval terms. Thus the proposals submitted for the design of the Hall of Fame reflected not only artistic and architectural differences, but these ideological disputes as well. Ludwig finally decided in March 1834, primarily for reasons of expense, against the proposals of Friedrich von Gärtner, Joseph Daniel Ohlmüller and Friedrich Ziebland, and commissioned Leo von Klenze to construct the Hall of Fame. He was undoubtedly influenced by the colossal statue in Klenze's design, since such a huge statue had not been erected since Classical Antiquity. Flattered by the idea of erecting a statue which would be as imposing as those commissioned by the rulers of antiquity, after deciding in favor of Klenze's design Ludwig I wrote, “Only Nero and I can produce such giant statues....”

Leo von Klenze, court architect of Bavarian King Ludwig I, first proposed in 1824 a design for the Bavaria statue in the form of a “Greek amazon ”, his inspiration being such monumental statues as the Colossus of Rhodes, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia. and especially Phidias ’ Athena Parthenos, which survived in numerous small Roman copies.

After the competition to design the Hall of Fame was decided in favor of Klenze, he drew up several proposals for the Bavaria statue in addition to his detailed drawings of the intended Hall.

These sketches show a Bavaria statue influenced by classical representations of an Amazon. She wore a double girdled chiton and high laced sandals. With her right hand she crowned a multiheaded Herma whose four faces symbolize the ideal qualities of a ruler, of a warrior, the arts, and science. In her left hand she held at arm's length at hip level a wreath which she symbolically bestowed on honored personalities. A lion crouched at her left side.

With this suggestion Klenze created a new type of national allegory. For a long time previously there had been personifications of Bavaria, but whereas, for example, the attributes of Tellus Bavarica on the Hofgartentempel represented the material wealth of the nation, Klenze gave his Bavaria attributes of culture and statesmanship. Klenze's design reflected a new understanding of the ideal state as virtuous and enlightened, replacing traditional agrarian symbolism.

In another proposal dating from 1834, Klenze planned the Bavaria statue as an exact copy of the Athena Promachos which once stood in front of the Acropolis. She was provided with a helmet, shield and raised spear.

On May 28, 1837 a contract to produce the Bavaria statue was signed by Ludwig I, Klenze, the sculptor Ludwig Michael Schwanthaler and the metal founder Johann Baptist Stiglmaier and his nephew, Ferdinand von Miller. Ludwig I and the participating artists were certainly aware of the plans for Arminius statues in Teutoburg Forest dating from the 1820s, although these were carried out after the Bavaria statue.

In contrast to Klenze, who was influenced by Classical Antiquity, Schwanthaler was a disciple of the Romantic Movement and a member of several Munich medieval circles, all of which were enthusiastic about anything “patriotic” and rejected foreign impulses, especially those from Classical Antiquity. It was apparently part of Ludwig's strategy to combine these contrary artistic conceptions in a single patriotic monument, thereby uniting the opposing camps under one national ideal. His attempt at a synthesis of Classical and Romano-Gothic styles is often referred to in the literature as “Romantic Classicism” or the “Ludovician Style”.

At first Schwanthaler adhered to the specifications of Klenze's plan. But he soon began to come up with his own variations of the Bavaria statue. He made the fundamental decision not to follow Classical models but rather to clothe her in a “Germanic” style: her floor length shirt dress was draped in a simpler way, and bound up together with a bearskin it gave the figure a typical “German” character according to Schwanthaler.