Picture of the day for August 12, 2017

Quadriga of the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin, Germany. The gate was commissioned by King Frederick William II of Prussia as a sign of peace and built between 1788 to 1791. It suffered considerable damage in World War II and during the post-war Partition of Germany, the gate was isolated and inaccessible immediately next to the Berlin Wall. The area around the gate was featured most prominently in the media coverage of the tearing down of the wall in 1989, and the subsequent German reunification in 1990. After the 1806 Prussian defeat at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, Napoleon was the first to use the Brandenburg Gate for a triumphal procession and took its Quadriga to Paris. After Napoleon's defeat in 1814 and the Prussian occupation of Paris the Quadriga was restored to Berlin and redesigned as a Prussian triumphal arch. The gate was restored from 2000 to 2002 to its current appearance..