Karolinenplatz Obelisk

The Munich Obelisk in post Obelisk #22 is one of a series on ancient Egyptian Obelisks removed from Egypt. Many visitors to Munich are probably more impressed by the black obelisk in Karolinenplatz.

This was erected by 1933 by King Ludwig I to commemorate the 30,000 Bavarian soldiers who were serving under Napoleon in his 1812 invasion of Russia. Before he was King Ludwig he was Crown Prince Maximilian the son of King Maximilian I. Crown Prince Max never agreed with King Max’s decision to join the confederation of the Rhine and serve with Napoleon. Crown Prince Max was distinctly anti-French.

He brought the Egyptian Obelisk home from Paris to celebrate his victory over the French at the Battle of Nations in Leipzig and the subsequent battles that deposed Napoleon. So the Egyptian Obelisk is a celebration of triumph. He erected the black obelisk as a memorial to the fallen Bavarians who never returned home. This dichotomy between triumph and remembrance is where I am taking this thread next.

Max may have objected to the stance adopted by his father, but he served the French loyally as a commander of the Bavarians. Upon the withdrawal of Bavaria from the Confederation of the Rhine he led his men against France under the Sixth Coalition. In this capacity he had every right to both celebrate the defeat of the French and the loss of life of Bavarian soldiers under the French.

We already saw the Italians repurpose the Dogali Obelisk to commemorate the Italian troops massacred in Eritrea in 1887. What intrigues me is how the monument form initially a religious expression, evolving to a triumphal war memorial eventually became such a commonly accepted motif for rembrance of the fallen and a symbol of the futility of war.

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Obelisk #22

The Obelisk in Munich has had a very interesting journey, riding on the swells of military victory throughout its history. It also has much in common with the Obelisk of Domitian in the Piazza Navona because this too is, in a sense, a fake.

I believe that the production system for the obelisks facilitated the creation of the fakes. At Aswan the obelisks were parted from the bedrock and removed for transportation. But they were not inscribed with hierogyphs at that stage. They faced a long journey from Aswan to their destination in Karnak, or Heliopolis, or even further into the delta region of Egypt. A lot could go wrong on that journey. The obelisk could be damaged, or could sink into the Nile. The Pharaoh who commissioned it could have passed away by the time the stone reached his, or her, temple precinct. It might come down to their heir to have it inscribed. So it was a bad idea to invest time and effort into the carving of the hieroglyphs until the stone reached its erection site.

Over time I suspect a few of these obelisks became orphans. Projects that never saw resolution and sat in the back lot of a temple precinct undecorated, unloved, unvenerated and never erected. My guess is that the Obelisk of Domitian was one such stone. I think the Obelisk of Titus Sextius Africanus was another.

The titular owner was appointed a suffect Consul in the 50’s AD around the end of the reign of Claudius and the beginning of Nero‘s rule. Titus Sextius seems to have served as the de facto Governor of Egypt although that post is documented as being held by Tiberius Claudius Balbillus Modestus. In the Roman Empire it became increasingly common for post-holders to sublet their awards to hard working subordinates while they feasted on the largesse of the salary.

We know that Claudius brought a number of obelisks to Rome, including the Boboli and the Dogali. Titus Sextius Africanus may have provided this obelisk to Emperor Claudius, adding his name to the inscriptions as a reminder to the Emperor of a loyal servant seeking advancement. But if it missed the postal delivery on that occasion we know Domitian would have imported it for his Iseum in the Campus Martius, now the Basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome.

After the fall of Rome and the rise of the Papal States we know that some Cardinals and Popes took an avid interest in repurposing the Egyptian Obelisks. Cardinal Allesandro Albani, later Pope Clement XI was one of these Obelisk loving clerics. We met his previously at the Parthenon and in Urbino. In the 18th Century the Obelisk of Titus Sextius found its way to the Villa Albani where it was restored by the sculptor Paolo Cavaceppi.

When Napoleon conquered Rome in his Italian Campaign of 1796 to 1797 he had the obelisk removed from Villa Albani and taken to Paris where it was installed on his monument to General Desaix who died at Marengo in 1800. So Paris had an Egyptian Obelisk long before the one installed in the Place de la Concorde. The monument to General Desaix did not survive the Bourbon restoration, and it was melted down to be replaced with a monument to Louis XIV.

After the defeat of the French at the Battle of Nations in Leipzig Napoleon was exiled to Elba. It seems the Albani family were offered a restoration of the Obelisk, but were unable to afford the transportation expenses. Crown Prince Maximilian I of Bavaria stepped forward to take it as a spoil of war. Maximilian always objected to his father’s alliance with Napoleon but led the Bavarians in 1809 under Marshal Lefebvre. In 1813 Bavaria left the French allied confederation of the Rhine and to Maximilian’s delight joined the sixth coalition. He took the obelisk stolen by Napoleon to Munich in 1815, the year the Battle of Waterloo saw the final end of Napoleon in Europe.

It was installed in the Egyptian Hall of the Glyptothek, the musuem of the ancient world built by Maximilian when he became King Ludwig. That museum was heavily damaged in WW2 and was restored in the 1970s when the obelisk was erected outside. In 2013 it was installed in the modern state museum of Egyptian art.

For one of the lesser known obelisks it has had an interesting history. Taken from Egypt by the Romans as the spoils of conquest. Used by Roman Emperors to cement their legitimacy. Restored and Christianised by the Roman papacy as a form of religious imperialism. Taken to France by Napoleon as a symbol of French Imperialism. Subsequently removed to Germany by an ardent German Nationalist. In Munich it bore witness to the rise and then the fall of Adolf Hitler. Today it resides in the European Union which was established in 1957 by the Treaties of Rome leading some to envisage it as a modern reincaration of the Pax Romana.

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Bürgerbräukeller

One of the largest Beer Halls in Munich the Bürgerbräukeller (Citizens beer cellar) became the launch pad for the failed coup d’état by the Nazi party in 1923. Commonly called the Beer Hall Putsch the Nazis preferred to call it the Munich Putsch.

A group of only some 2,000 brownshirts marched on the City Centre and were met by a police cordon. The Nazi’s were routed and Hitler himself was injured.

The event introduced the Nazi party to Germany.

Sentenced to 5 years in prison Hitler served only 9 months, in which time he dictated the text of Mein Kampf which was written down by fellow prisoners Emil Maurice and Rudolph Hess. The book went on to become a global best seller making Hitler the equivalent of $5 Million in its first five years.

On his release from prison Hitler opted for a semi-legitimate approach to power, attaining control in 1933 by bully tactics against moderate parties and using the Enabling Act to isolate the left wing parties after the Reichstag fire.

The Beer Hall Putsch was defeated on November 9th, 1923, the 5th anniversary of the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm in 1918. When Rudyard Kipling heard rumors that the Kaiser was dying of throat cancer (the rumors were untrue) he wrote this savage polemic. For the non-Latin scholars ‘Regis suprema voluntas lex’ translates as ‘the King’s will is the supreme law’.

A Death-Bed; by Rudyard Kipling

‘This is the State above the Law.
The State exists for the State alone.’
[This is a gland at the back of the jaw,
and an answering lump by the collarbone.]

Some die shouting in gas or fire;
some die silent, by shell and shot.
Some die desperate, caught on the wire;
some die suddenly. This will not.

‘Regis suprema voluntas lex’
[It will follow the regular course of — throats.]
Some die pinned by the broken decks,
some die sobbing between the boats.

Some die eloquent, pressed to death
by the sliding trench as their friends can hear.
Some die wholly in half a breath,
some — give trouble for half a year.

‘There is neither Evil nor Good in life
Except as the needs of the State ordain.’
[Since it is rather too late for the knife,
all we can do is mask the pain.]

Some die saintly in faith and hope —
one died thus in a prison-yard —
some die broken by rape or the rope;
some die easily. This dies hard.

‘I will dash to pieces who bar my way.
Woe to the traitor! Woe to the weak!’
[Let him write what he wishes to say.
It tires him out if he tries to speak.]

Some die quietly. Some abound
in loud self-pity. Others spread
bad morale through the cots around…
this is a type that is better dead.

‘The war was forced on me by my foes.
All that I sought was the right to live.’
[Don’t be afraid of a triple dose;
the pain will neutralize half we give.

Here are the needles. See that he dies
while the effects of the drug endure…
What is the question he asks with his eyes? —
Yes, All-Highest, to God, be sure.]

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