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The gigantic monument (together, the horse and rider are nine metres high) combines the equestrian statue of Wilhelm I (Whitebeard) with a statue of emperor Friedrich I (1123–1190), better known as Barbarossa (Redbeard), sitting in his cave.

Legend says that Barbarossa is not dead, but asleep in a cave in the Kyffhäuser Mountain in Thüringen. When the ravens cease to fly around the mountain, he will awaken and restore Germany to its ancient greatness. With the establishment of the German Empire in 1871, many Germans thought that his time had come. 

The Kyffhäuser monument was inaugurated in 1896. Ashamed by their defeat after World War II, the Germans wanted to blow up the monument, but a Russian officer prevented this, stating: ‘The Germans should learn to live with their monuments and their history’

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