Walhalla (memorial)

View of Walhalla from the Danube River.

View of the Walhalla main hall.

The Walhalla Hall of Fame and Honor is a hall of fame located on the Danube River 10 km from Regensburg, in Bavaria, Germany.

It was the idea of 20-year-old Crown Prince Ludwig I of Bavaria in 1807, at a time when the German states were defeated and occupied by Napoleon. It was meant as a place for the commemoration of great figures and events in ethnic German history, at the time covering 1,800 years, beginning with the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (9 CE).

Whereas the Valhalla of Norse mythology was home to those gloriously slain in battle, Ludwig's Walhalla was intended not only for warriors but also for scientists, writers, clerics and specifically also for females.

Decades before the German Empire was founded in 1871, "German" was understood as "Germanic," since Gothic, Langobardic, Anglo-Saxon and Swiss German figures were included, as well as persons who had gained fame mainly in other countries or for non-German governments.

By the time of King Ludwig I's coronation in 1825, 60 busts had already been completed. In 1826 he commissioned a temple above the Danube near Regensburg, modelled after the Parthenon in Athens. On the Walhalla's inauguration on October 18, 1842, there were 96 busts, plus 64 plaques for persons or events of which no portrait was available on which to model a sculpture. As being "of the German tongue" was the main selection criterion for the original 160 persons representing the 1,800 years, the King included persons from modern-day Sweden, Austria, Poland, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland and the Baltic States.

As successor to the King, the government of Bavaria decides on additions. Proposals may be made by anyone, but only persons who have been dead at least 20 years are eligible. Only 31 busts have been added since, on an irregular basis, for a total of 191 — 12 of them, female. The most recent additions were:

• 1990 Albert Einstein
• 1998 Sister Gerhardinger
• 1999 Konrad Adenauer
• 2000 Johannes Brahms
• 2003 Sophie Scholl

The bust of Sophie Scholl was inaugurated on February 22, 2003, the 60th anniversary of her execution. It is also intended as a representative of all the members of the Widerstand (the German Resistance against Nazi Germany), who have been honored with an additional plaque.

Future inductees approved in 2006 were:

• 2007 Carl Friedrich Gauß [1]
• 2008 Edith Stein
• 2009 Heinrich Heine [2]

Ludwig I. Bust at the Ruhmeshalle, Munich.

In Munich, an additional Hall of Fame for Bavarians was established in 1853 — the Ruhmeshalle München. Nine of the Bavarian enshrinees having since been made Walhalla enshrinees, their Ruhmeshalle busts which were destroyed in 1944, during World War II, have not been recreated. Instead, a plaque with their names tells of their transfer to Walhalla. Additionally, King Ludwig I, who also commissioned the Befreiungshalle and other monuments, is enshrined both at Walhalla and the Ruhmeshalle.

Busts

Ludwig van Beethoven,
Tondichter ("sound poet").

Walhalla colonnade.

Wilhelm Graf zu Schaumburg-Lippe.

The rows of busts are placed chronologically, beginning with Henry the Fowler (born 876 CE).

1. Konrad Adenauer – first Chancellor of West Germany
2. Amalie Elisabeth – Countess of Hesse-Kassel during the Thirty Years' War
3. August II the Strong – Elector of Saxony and King of Poland
4. Johann Sebastian Bach – composer
5. Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly – Russian Field Marshal
6. Ludwig van Beethoven – composer
7. Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar – general in the Thirty Years' War
8. Otto von Bismarck – Chancellor of North German Confederation and then of the German Empire
9. Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher – Prussian Generalfeldmarschall
10. Herman Boerhaave – Dutch humanist and physician
11. Johannes Brahms - Composer
12. Anton Bruckner – Austrian composer
13. Gottfried August Bürger – poet
14. Christoph, Duke of Württemberg – Duke of Württemberg
15. Johann von Dalberg – Bishop of Worms
16. Hans Karl von Diebitsch – Russian field marshal, born in Silesia
17. Albrecht Dürer – printmaker and painter
18. Anthony van Dyck – Flemish painter and etcher
19. Eberhard I. of Württemberg – Duke of Württemberg
20. Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn – Bishop of Würzburg
21. Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff – poet
22. Albert Einstein – physicist
23. Erasmus of Rotterdam – humanist
24. Ernst I – Duke of Saxe-Gotha and Saxe-Altenburg during the Thirty Years' War
25. Jan van Eyck – Flemish painter
26. Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg – Prussian Generalfeldmarschall
27. Frederick I, Elector Palatine – the Victorious, Elector of Palatinate
28. Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor - Barbarossa
29. Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor – Stupor mundi
30. Frederick II of Prussia – Frederick the Great
31. Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg – the Great Elector
32. Georg von Frundsberg – Knight and leader of Landsknechts
33. Jakob Fugger – the Rich, merchant in Augsburg
34. Johannes Gutenberg – inventor of printing
35. Karolina Gerhardinger – founder of the School Sisters of Notre Dame
36. Ernst Gideon Freiherr von Laudon – Austrian field marshal from Livonia
37. Christoph Willibald Gluck – composer
38. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – poet and polymath
39. Johann Joseph von Görres – writer
40. Hugo Grotius – Dutch jurist
41. Otto von Guericke – German scientist and inventor
42. Albrecht von Haller – Swiss anatomist and physiologist
43. Hans von Hallwyl – Swiss commander at the Battle of Morat
44. Georg Friedrich Händel – German baroque composer
45. Joseph Haydn – Austrian composer from the classical period
46. Henry the Lion – Duke of Saxony and Bavaria
47. Henry the Fowler – Duke of Saxony and King of the Germans
48. Johann Jakob Wilhelm Heinse - German author
49. Berthold von Henneberg – Elector and Archbishop of Mainz
50. Johann Gottfried Herder – German poet, critic, and theologian
51. Friedrich Wilhelm Herschel – German astronomer and composer
52. Hans Holbein the Younger – German painter
53. Ulrich von Hutten – German knight and Humanist
54. Friedrich Ludwig Jahn – German patriot and father of gymnastics
55. Immanuel Kant – German philosopher
56. Archduke Charles of Austria – Austrian military commander
57. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
58. Charles V, Duke of Lorraine
59. Charles X Gustav of Sweden – King of Sweden
60. Catherine II of Russia, Catherine the Great – Tsarina of Russia
61. Johannes Kepler – German mathematician and astronomer
62. Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock – German poet
63. Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor
64. Nicolaus Copernicus – Polish/German astronomer
65. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz – German philosopher
66. Gotthold Ephraim Lessing – German poet from the age of enlightenment
67. Justus Freiherr von Liebig – German chemist
68. Paris Graf von Lodron – Archbishop of Salzburg
69. Ludwig Wilhelm von Baden - Türkenlouis, Imperial commander
70. Ludwig I – King of Bavaria
71. Martin Luther – Leader of the Protestant reformation, translator of the bible into German
72. Maria Theresia – Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia
73. Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
74. Maximilian I. – Prince-elector of Bavaria
75. Hans Memling – Flemish painter
76. Gregor Joh. Mendel – Czech Augustinian monk and naturalist
77. Raphael Mengs – Painter
78. Graf Helmuth von Moltke – German jurist and resistance fighter against the Nazis
79. Maurice of Orange – captain-general of the army of the Dutch Republic
80. Maurice of Saxony – German commander and military strategist
81. Justus Möser – German historian
82. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Austrian composer
83. Johannes Müller (Regiomontanus) – German astronomer and mathematician
84. Johannes von Müller – Swiss historian
85. Burkhard Christoph Graf von Münnich – German field marshall in Russian service
86. August Graf Neidhardt von Gneisenau – Prussian field marshall
87. Nicholas of Flue – Swiss hermit, ascetic and mystic
88. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor
89. Theophrast von Hohenheim Paracelsus – 17th century Swiss physician and alchemist
90. Jean Paul – German humorist
91. Max von Pettenkofer – German chemist and hygienist
92. Wolter von Plettenberg – German Master of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword
93. Josef Wenzel Graf Radetzky von Radetz – Austrian military leader
94. Max Reger – German composer and organist of the late romantic period
95. Johannes von Reuchlin – German philosopher and humanist
96. Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen – German physicist
97. Peter Paul Rubens – Flemish painter
98. Rudolf I of Habsburg – German king
99. Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter – Dutch admiral
100. Gerhard von Scharnhorst – Prussian general
101. Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph von Schelling – German philosopher
102. Friedrich von Schiller - German poet and exponent of Sturm und Drang
103. Sophie Scholl - German resistance fighter against the Nazi regime
104. Johann Philipp von Schönborn – Archbishop and Prince-elector of Mainz
105. Franz Peter Schubert – Austrian Romantic composer
106. Karl Philipp Fürst zu Schwarzenberg – Austrian field marshall
107. Franz von Sickingen – leader of the knighthood in Rhineland and Swabia
108. Frans Snyders - Flemish painter
109. Karl vom und zum Stein – Prussian politician
110. Erwin von Steinbach – German architect of the Straßburger Münster
111. Adalbert Stifter – Austrian author
112. Richard Strauss – German composer
113. Johannes Aventinus (Johann Georg Turmair) – Bavarian scholar and historian
114. Maximilian von und zu Trauttmansdorff – Austrian diplomat that negotiated the Peace of Westphalia
115. Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp – Admiral in the Dutch navy.
116. Aegidius Tschudi – Swiss Historian
117. Peter Vischer the elder – German Sculptor
118. Richard Wagner – German composer of operas
119. Albrecht von Wallenstein – Duke and General in the Thirty Years' War
120. Carl Maria von Weber – German composer
121. Christoph Martin Wieland – German Poet
122. Wilhelm Graf zu Schaumburg-Lippe – Commander of his army in the Seven Years' War and for Portugal
123. Wilhelm I. – German Emperor
124. William I of Orange – Dutch leader of the Eighty Years' War for independence from Spain.
125. Wilhelm III. of Orange – King of England, Scotland, and Ireland
126. Johann Joachim Winckelmann – German archeologist and art writer
127. Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf – German religious and social reformer, bishop of the Moravian Church

Commemorative plaques

Plaques were made for persons (or acts) of which no portraits or descriptions were available to model sculptures after. The timeline spans from Hermann der Cherusker (born 17 BCE) to watchmaker Peter Henlein, who died in 1542, but a plaque also commemorates known and unknown German Resistance fighters against Nazi Germany through 1945.

1. Alaric I - king of the Visigoths
2. Albertus Magnus - philosopher and theologian
3. Alboin - king of the Lombards
4. Alfred the Great - first King of England
5. Alcuin - first bishop of Utrecht
6. Arnulf of Carinthia - Holy Roman Emperor
7. Arnulf, Duke of Bavaria - Arnulf the Bad, confiscated church property for defense
8. Athaulf - king of the Visigoths
9. Beda Venerabilis - monk and scholar
10. Bernward of Hildesheim - Bishop of Hildesheim
11. Saint Boniface - Patron Saint of Germany
12. Adrian von Bubenberg - Swiss knight and general
13. Clovis I - King of the Franks
14. Julius Civilis (25- ), leader of Germanic rebellion against Rome in 69
15. Egbert of Wessex (-839), considered the first de facto King of England, grandfather of Alfred the Great
16. Eginhard - historian
17. Elisabeth of Hungary - Saint and Hungarian princess
18. Emmeram of Regensburg - Saint
19. Engelbert II of Berg - Saint
20. Friediger
21. Frederick I of Austria (Habsburg) Duke of Austria and King of the Romans
22. Geiseric - King of the Vandals and Alans
23. Gerhard von Rile - architect of the Cologne Cathedral
24. Peter Henlein - inventor of the watch
25. Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor
26. Hengest - king
27. Heribert of Cologne - Archbishop of Cologne and Chancellor of Emperor Otto III.
28. Ermanaric - King of the Ostrogoths
29. Hermann der Cherusker - without doubt Germania's liberator, victor in the Battle of Teutoburg Forest
30. Hermann von Salza - fourth Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights
31. Hildegard von Bingen a German magistraTemplate:Fn, monastic leader, mystic, author, and composer of music.
32. Horsa - fifth century warrior, brother of Hengest
33. Charles Martel - the Hammer, defeated the Arabs at the Battle of Tours
34. Charlemagne - founder of the Holy Roman Empire
35. Lambrecht von Aschaffenburg
36. Leopold VI, Duke of Austria
37. Marbod - king of the Marcomanni
38. Mechthilde - Saint
39. The writer of the Nibelungenlied
40. Odoacer - chieftain of the Germanic, deposed the last Western Roman Emperor
41. Otto II Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria
42. Otto of Bamberg - canonized medieval German bishop who as papal legate converted much of Pomerania to Christianity.
43. Otto of Freising - Bishop of Freising
44. Otto I Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria
45. Pippin of Herstal, Mayor of the Palace
46. Pippin the Younger, Mayor of the Palace
47. Rabanus Maurus, Benedictine monk, archbishop of Mainz
48. Hrosvit - a Monastic Christian poet from Saxony.
49. The three men of the Rütli-Schwur - Swiss confederation

    

    Oath on the Rütli

50. Theudelinde
51. Theodoric I - King of the Visigoths
52. Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths and of the Visigoths
53. Arnold von Thurn
54. Totila, king of the Ostrogoths
55. Ulfilas, Gothic bishop, missionary, and translator.
56. Veleda, prophetess of the Bructeri during the Batavian rebellion
57. Walther von der Vogelweide, celebrated poet of Middle High German lyric
58. Bruno von Warendorp - mayor of Lübeck
59. Paul Warnefried - Paul the Deacon
60. Meister Wilhelm von Köln
61. Saint Willibrord, Northumbrian missionary, known as the Apostle to the Frisians
62. Arnold von Winkelried, hero of the Swiss
63. Widukind - duke of Saxony and antagonist of Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars
64. Wolfram von Eschenbach, a German knight, Minnesinger and epic poet
65. Widerstand - German Resistance fighters against Nazi Germany

External links

• Template:De icon Official website of Walhalla
• Template:En icon Space photo on Wikimapia

49°01′53.35″N 12°13′26.72″E