The Hermannsdenkmal (German for "Hermann Memorial") is a monument located southwest of Detmold in the district of Lippe (North Rhine-Westphalia), in Germany.

The monument was constructed between 1838 and 1875 to commemorate the Cherusci war chief Arminius (in German, Hermann) and his victory over Rome at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD.

[2] In 9 AD, Arminius, a chieftain of the Cherusci people and an auxiliary cavalry commander, turned against his Roman allies and led an alliance of Germanic tribes to ambush three legions under the leadership of provincial governor Publius Quinctilius Varus.

This event later came to be seen as a vital turning point in Middle-European history as it may have been instrumental in limiting the advance of the Roman Empire into Germania.

At that point, the old Empire had been dissolved, the Kingdom of Prussia had been defeated and partially dismembered by Napoleon and all hopes of a German Great Power emerging in the foreseeable future seemed lost.

The Congress of Vienna, which re-ordered Europe after Napoleon's final defeat, disappointed hopes for a unified Germany as the princes were mostly able to retain their independent powers in the new Deutscher Bund.

[4]: 37–39 Against this backdrop Ernst von Bandel came to the Teutoburg Forest in 1836 to put into action his life's dream of erecting a monument to Arminius.

In 1837, an association called Verein für das Hermannsdenkmal was established at Detmold with the goal of funding the project, so Bandel could focus on the work of designing rather than on fundraising.

That same year, Prince Leopold II gave his permission to build the monument, but only for the Grotenburg location, thereby settling the issue.

[4]: 40–45 In 1838, Bandel changed his original draft idea for the figure of 1834 to take into account that a pedestal would be needed in this location, to make the statue visible from afar.

Bandel then traveled to Italy and met King Ludwig I of Bavaria en route, who promised him financial support but also asked for a design change.

An initial celebration on occasion of the finished base vault on 8 September 1841 already gave rise to some fervent anti-French rhetoric.

In September 1873, the workshop in Hanover was closed and the finishing touch to the monument (the attaching of the Emperor William relief) was applied in July 1875.

At the same time, Prussia and Germany were in the middle of Kulturkampf, a fight against the power of the Roman Catholic Church, thus Arminius became a convenient symbol of "another victory over Rome".

Historian Hans Delbrück gave the keynote speech and the newly built Bandel Bench (financed by individual donations) was inaugurated.

Due to a past argument over the succession in the Principality of Lippe, the current Prince, Leopold IV had asked for the Emperor to be omitted from the list of guests.

[4]: 83 In the Weimar Republic the monument became a popular meeting point for associations and societies of the nationalist, monarchist and reactionary right whilst the government kept its distance.

Another highlight was a long-distance relay race called Hermannslauf beginning at 16 different points all over Germany (such as Kulm, the Zugspitze or Flensburg) and in which 120,000 runners participated.

The keynote speech of the celebration on 9 August was given by the head of the right-wing Der Stahlhelm, and other nationalist groups such as the Jungdeutscher Orden were also prominent.

Events in 1935 (the monument's 60th anniversary) and 1941 (100 years since the foundation stone was laid) were smaller than the 1909 and 1925 celebrations and focused on glorifying Hitler and glamorizing him as the successor of Arminius.

Annual visitor number rose to 400,000 in the 1960s and 1970s, but the focus shifted towards the view and the monument as a purely touristic sight, while the political connotations were pushed into the background.

Events in 1975 and 2000 (100th and 125th anniversary) for the first time included critical debate of the 19th-century views of Arminius and the role of the monument in shaping the public's reception of the Germanic past.

The subject wears clothes deemed historically accurate at the time and has a body shape which the designer considered to be "typically Germanic".

Arminius is shown wearing trousers, a short skirt reaching to the upper thighs, a tabard held closed by a fibula and boots.

Bandel knew that Germanic tribes did not use winged helmets but wanted to show the eagle as a heraldic symbol of Germany.

Inside the pedestal is a spiral staircase of 75 steps leading up to a round platform encircling the dome on which stands the statue.

[4]: 17 Three of the niches created by the columns contain inscriptions:[4]: 26–27 The first shows a Latin quotation from Tacitus' Annals, describing Arminius as the liberator of Germany (Germaniae).

It blames the prior defeats in the Napoleonic Wars on the help France received from some German states and celebrates Prussia as the leader and liberator of Germany.

It likely was one of a number of similar structures built and used from the 3rd to 1st century BC by local tribes at the northern edges of the German Mittelgebirge, apparently inspired by Celtic hilltop settlements further south.

Almost nothing of the structure remains visible today, as the terrain has been altered by the building of the monument, the parking area and other touristic infrastructure.