Obelisk am Karolinenplatz, War memorial obelisk in Maxvorstadt district, Munich, Germany
The black obelisk at Karolinenplatz rises approximately 29 meters above a three-tiered marble base situated in the center of the square. The structure combines brick construction with marble cladding and bronze elements to create a solemn monument.
King Ludwig I commissioned architect Leo von Klenze in 1833 to design this memorial to honor 30,000 Bavarian soldiers killed during Napoleon's Russian campaign. The project reshaped the urban character of the city as a permanent reminder of wartime losses.
The four bronze faces carry German inscriptions, not soldiers' names: "To the thirty thousand Bavarians who met death in the Russian war", "They too died for the fatherland's liberation", "Erected by Ludwig I King of Bavaria" and "Completed on XVIII October MDCCCXXXIII". The claim that the bronze came from Turkish ships sunk at Navarino in 1827 is a legend; 34.6 tonnes of scrap metal, mostly captured guns, were used.
The obelisk stands in the middle of the circular Karolinenplatz in Maxvorstadt, at the meeting point of three street axes, so it can be seen from some distance along the approaching streets. The green rondel around the shaft was laid out after 1870. The monument is listed as a Bavarian building monument.
The bronze cladding used 34.6 tons of scrap metal, mostly from captured cannons. A persistent legend claims these were Turkish naval guns sunk at the 1827 Battle of Navarino, but the sources treat this as unverified. The monument was inaugurated on 18 October 1833, the twentieth anniversary of the Battle of Leipzig.
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