Berin’s most iconic landmark was built in 1791 by Carl Gotthard Langhns after Friedrich Wilhem II commissioned the entryway to the Prussian sector. It is located west of the city center, just in front of the Tiergarten and the Reichstag. The gates mark the classic period of Berlin architecture; it is inspired after Propylae, the gateway to Acropolis in Athens, and the Roman goddess of victory, Viktoria, can be seen driving a chariot of four horses facing east.
at Unter den Linden‎
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Fit for a President A look back at Berlin's Presidential moments
In 1987, in honor of the 750th anniversary of the Brandenburg Gates, President Ronald Reagan addressed a crowd of West Berliners in front of bullet-proof panes and demanded Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev tear down the wall. Though the president's comrades were dubious about the direct command, Reagan opted to adhere to the words, penned by speechwriter Peter Robinson, below. "General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" The wall fell down just 17 months later. West German chancellor Helmut Kohl would later remark, "He was a stroke of luck for the world, especially for Europe." In September 1990, Reagan returned to Berlin to chip away at the very wall whose destruction had, at the time of his plea, seemed impossible.
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