Goethe & Schiller Statue - Syracuse, New York
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PTCrazy
N 43° 04.171 W 076° 08.496
18T E 407054 N 4769167
Located in Schiller Park in downtown Syracuse, this statue depicts two German writers who fought for political liberty and liberal reform in the late 1700's.
Waymark Code: WM5ABP
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 12/06/2008
Views: 20
The big, bronze monument at the northern end of the park honors a long friendship between two German writers prominent in the late 18th century. Johann von Goethe (1749-1832) was a a poet, dramatist and novelist whose most famous work is Faust, an epic dramatic poem about a learned German doctor who traveled widely, performed magic - and sold his soul to the devil in exchange for youth, knowledge, and magical power. Poet and dramatist Johann von Schiller (1759-1805) is best known for his works Don Carlos and William Tell.
More importantly, Goethe and Schiller were champions of the humanistic ideals of freedom and political liberty that stirred German desires for national unification and liberal reform during the early 19th century. However, as rebellions against authoritarian rulers and kings were crushed in places like Prussia, Austria, Bavaria and Hanover, German immigrants fled to America. A sizable number settled to the south and west of the future park, creating a neighborhood of primarily working-class German inhabitants.
Goethe and Schiller were so admired that the Deutscher Bund of Onondaga County - a society of prominent German residents of Syracuse - raised $10,000 to erect a monument to the two friends. On October 15, 1911, the statue was dedicated to Syracusans of German ancestry. Thousands of people attended the unveiling ceremony. The Syracuse Goethe-Schiller statue was only the fourth constructed in the United States to honor the two German literary giants, following the lead of San Francisco, Cleveland and Milwaukee.
The statue is bronze on a black marble pedestal with a granite base. The bronze figures were cast in Germany.
(information gathered from Schiller Park website.)
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