In the mid 1800s, King Ludwig I of Bavaria commissioned the Siegestor, which basically looks like the Arc de Triomphe and Brandenburg Gate got married and had an extremely unoriginal baby.

This is what the Siegestor looks like:

And in case you need a refresher, here is the Arc de Triomphe:

And the proud father, Brandenburg Gate:

Let’s zoom in:

These are the statues on Brandenburg Gate:

Below are the statues on the Siegestor. King Ludwig basically swapped out the horses for lions, as lions were considered to symbolize … King Ludwig.

This is Awkward…

The ironic twist behind this whole thing is that “Siegestor” is German for “Victory Arch,” and the Siegestor was destroyed during World War II.

Be Forewarned…

The Siegestor was eventually rebuilt, but this time with the inscription “Dem Sieg geweiht, vom Krieg zerstört, zum Frieden mahnend,” which translates to

“Dedicated to victory,
destroyed by war,
urging peace”.