Lessing Monument

The Lessing Memorial at the southeast edge of Berlin's Grosser Tiergarten honours Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781), the playwright and key voice of the German Enlightenment. Created in 1887-1890 by Otto Lessing - a great-great-nephew of the poet - it shows Lessing in a contemplative pose on a tall pedestal, flanked by allegories of Criticism and Dramatic Poetry and reliefs of his plays "Nathan the Wise" and "Minna von Barnhelm". The piece is considered a typical work of the Berlin Sculpture School in the Neo-Baroque of the Wilhelmine era. It now stands quietly at a roundabout between Hofjaegerallee and Tiergartenstrasse, often overlooked by walkers heading toward the Victory Column.