Koblenz - Deutsches Eck

The Romans founded this city 8BC under the name "Confluentes". Koblenz by now is situated on both banks of the Rhine at its confluence (sic!) with the Moselle.

The triangular headland where the Moselle joins the Rhine is named "Deutsches Eck" (= "German Corner"). In 1897 the former German Emperor William I was honoured with a giant equestrian statue here. The monument (37m high) stands in a long row of oversized monuments, erected during the second half of the 19th century in Germany (eg Hermannsdenkmal /Detmold, Germania /Ruedesheim, Bismarck Monument /Hamburg, Kyffhaeuser Monument /Frankenhausen).

The statue of William I was badly damaged by an American artillery shell in 1945. It was taken down and got scrapped later. After a long and very controversial discussion the monument got reconstructed and since 1993 is back on the massive base.