Goethe–Schiller Monument

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). It was erected by the German-American organizations of Syracuse and Onondaga County, and was unveiled on October 15, 1911. Schiller, who is on the reader's right in the photograph, was called the "poet of freedom" in the US, and he had an enormous 19th Century following. The Syracuse monument was the last of 13 monuments to Schiller that were erected in US cities. He and Schiller are paired in the statue because of their strong friendship. 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." Goethe is holding a laurel wreath in his right hand, and Schiller's right hand is reaching towards it. The Goethe–Schiller Monument in Syracuse was modeled on the 1857 monument in Weimar, Germany. 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 Syracuse monument is in Schiller Park, which had been renamed in 1905, the centennial of Schiller's death. The statue tops a large black marble pedestal; it is at the top of a steep slope, and is approached by

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