The Brandenburg Gate is an historic city gateway in the center of Berlin. The gate was built between 1788 and 1791 and modeled
on the Propylaea, the ceremonial entrance to the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. The Quadriga, a statue of Victory, was
placed on the monument's flat top in 1794. In 1806 French Emperor Napoleon I stole the Quadriga to have it
mounted atop the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, but in 1814 the statue was recaptured and returned to Berlin.

Because of its location, the gate has been a rallying place for ceremonies, parades, and demonstrations, as well as the site of battles.
When the Nazis ascended to power, they used the Gate as their symbol. At the end of World War II, after Berlin was partitioned
into four sectors of Allied occupation, the Brandenburg Gate became part of the Soviet-occupied sector. When the Berlin
Wall was built in 1961 to separate East and West Berlin, the gate was sealed off in the land between the two
sections of the divided city. Following the collapse of the Communist regime in East Berlin
in 1989, the Berlin Wall was dismantled and public access
to the Brandenburg Gate was restored.

"Brandenburg Gate." Microsoft® Encarta® 2007 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2006.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2007. © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.