No less than 65 equestrian statues of Wilhelm I have been created and erected over the years. Fifty of these statues were destroyed, most of them (31) during WW II, 5 before and 9 after that war and unknown when 5. Of the remaining 15 statues one was sold at an auction in 1981 to a private person and one was reconstructed, leaving 15 equestrian statues of Wilhelm I in public space.
Both the site of the equestrian statue of Wilhelm I in Koblenz as its size is spectacular. The site: Deutsche Eck, where the rivers Rhine and Moesel come together. The size: 14 metres high. The Americans shot the statue into pieces during the last days of WW II. An initiative in 1987 of the industrial Werner Theisen and his wife to fund the rebuilding of the statue was not met with much enthusiasm of the authorities. In first instance the offer of 3 mln. Deutschmark was refused. Königswinter claimed the statue, but in the end the giant statue, designed by Emil Hundrieser, was reconstructed and in 1993 re-erected at its original site at Deutsche Eck. With high water the memorial is surrounded by water.
