Kaiser Friedrich Park

This is the site of the destroyed statue of the Royal Crown Prince of Prussia, Frederick William, the monument was destroyed after World War I and disappeared.

The 5.5-meter-high bronze equestrian statue of the Royal Prince of Prussia, Frederick William, was created by the Baumbach studio in Berlin (sculptor and architect). The statue rested on a 7-meter-high sandstone rock from the Vosges Mountains, itself placed on a 3.5-meter pedestal. The prince, in uniform, had his eyes fixed on the battlefield and his arm extended toward Frœschwiller, who had yet to be taken away. It was from this location that the emperor, then crown prince, scanned the French lines on the other side of the Sauer Valley and indicated to his troops the direction of the attack of August 6, 1870. On the rock face, two Germanic warriors shook hands. The one on the right, with the Saxon shield, represented the North German Confederation; the one on the left, with the Bavarian lion at his feet,The Southern States. They formed an alliance against their common enemy, France. At their feet were placed trophies recovered from the French army. Above them, an eagle clutched the coat of arms of Alsace-Lorraine in its talons. The monument stood on a terrace 42 meters long and 30 meters wide. Two staircases on either side of the terrace provided access. The monument was inaugurated with great pomp and circumstance by Wilhelm II on October 18, 1895, in the presence of Germany's leading political figures. In 1919, when Alsace became French again, the statue of the prince, once again a symbol of the German enemy, was removed from its pedestal and melted down to replace the bells of the Protestant church in Wörth, which had been confiscated during World War I to be made into cannons. Source: Website dated 6 August 1870: www.6aout1870.fr (last accessed on 2/02/2016)
The Museum 1870 at Woerth, preserves elements of the now-lost monument, like the head of the Crown Prince.

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Source

• Text: Archives Bas-Rhin
• Photos: Frank Jongeling
• https://archives.bas-rhin.fr/detail-monument-1870/562
• https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_equestre_de_Frederic_III