Prussia Columns

The monuments were intended to commemorate the landings of the Brandenburg and later, Prussian troops on the island in the years 1678 and 1715 and to demonstrate Prussia's claim to power over the southern Baltic Sea region.

During the Swedish-Brandenburg War (1674–1679) Frederick William, the "Great Elector" of Brandenburg, allied with the Danish king, Christian V, conquered the island in September 1678 in the invasion of Rügen.

The Great Elector landed on the same day on the southeast shore of Rügen near Neukamp with the Brandenburg troops (7,000–8,000 men) under the command of General Field Marshal Derfflinger.

After further siege operations the Swedes trapped in the town of Stralsund gave themselves up on 23 December 1715, Charles XII only escaping in a fishing boat across the Baltic Sea.

The statues are each about 3.4 metres (11 ft) high and, like the capitals, are made of Saxon sandstone, standing atop the granite columns.

Five years later, following an emergency meeting on 11 September 1990 in Putbus, a Berlin master stonemason and restorer was contracted to remove both monuments.

Serious corrosion of these jointing pins over many decades had caused the granite to split in places, which meant there had been a danger of the columns collapsing as result of the formation of cracks and fissures.

The material to be used for any replicas - i.e. Elbe Sandstone for the capitals and statues and Bornholm granite, of which the Nardevitz Erratic was also made, for the column drums weighing six and five tons respectively - would be readily obtainable.

Due to the continuing shortage of money in the district of Rügen, which was the owner of the monuments, little work was carried out in the following years, with the exception of the completion of a capital.

As was suspected from the results of earlier soil investigations, the stability of this monument had been reinforced by the use of stones laid to a depth of 5.80 metres and which had been taken from a megalithic tomb that had formerly lain on the site.

On 2 September 2005, the original pieces were transported, unworked, from Berlin to Putbus and, since then have been displayed to the public in an open area on Alleestraße road, near the roundabout.

Thuse, each part of the column would only be carrying its own weight, the internal, invisible stainless steel pipe, with a new foundation, would bear the overall load.