Goethe–Schiller Monument (Syracuse)

The Goethe–Schiller Monument in Syracuse, New York incorporates a copper double-statue of the German poets Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) and Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805).

[9] As Paul Zanker writes, in the statue a "fatherly Goethe gently lays his hand on the shoulder of the restless Schiller, as if to quiet the overzealous passion for freedom of the younger generation.

Ernst Rietschel had been commissioned to create a cast bronze double-statue for Weimar, which was exactly copied for the Syracuse and for three earlier US monuments.

The plateau of Schiller park, rising high above its surroundings and topped with the bronze figures of the German poets, was thronged with men and women and children.

"[12] Ute Frevert has written of the celebrations,[13] "It did not matter who spoke, a Hamburg plumber, a political emigrant in Paris, an aristocratic civil servant in Münster, a writer in Wollenbüttel, they unanimously invoked Schiller as a singer of freedom and the prophet of German unity."

For comparison, the cost of building the sizable 1901 Deutsche Evangelische Friedenskirche (German Evangelist Peace Church) in Syracuse was also about $15,000.

Christiane Hertel has suggested that the lavishness of the late monuments and their celebrations in the US were "a German-American farewell to the Schiller cult, at least in this form and with this popular, inclusive scope.

[26] The statue has a small plaque attached to its base that reads "Galvanoplastik-Geislingen St.",[27] which indicates that it was made by the Abteilung für Galvanoplastik (Galvanoplastic Division) of the WMF Company in Geislingen an der Steige, Germany.

[28][29] The pieces were fabricated using the electrotyping process, which involves the depositing of copper metal from a solution of chemicals onto the inside of a mold.

[32] As can be seen by comparing the 1913 postcard and the contemporary photograph, at some point the decorative electrical lighting fixtures on the staircase leading to the monument were removed.

[33] The German-American Society of Central New York undertook a project to restore the monument, in cooperation with the city government of Syracuse.

Photograph of an old color postcard. There is printing at the top left of the postcard that says "Goethe and Schiller Monument, Syracuse, N.Y." The picture shows a statue of two men on a stone pedestal. The statue is at the top of a slope, and is approached by a long, wide stairway. There are several lighting fixtures on each side of the stairway, and there are formal plantings of shrubbery on both sides. There are trees behind the statue.
1913 postcard of the Goethe–Schiller Monument in Syracuse
Photograph showing a long, broad flight of steps leading to a large metal statue of two men. There are about 50 steps. The two men in the statue are roughly life-sized, and are standing on a large stone pedestal. The pedestal has bronze plaque that reads "Goethe und Schiller".
August 2010 photograph of the approach to the Goethe–Schiller Monument in Syracuse. The electrical lighting fixtures that were installed in 1911 have been removed.