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.
Worth noting is that on both sides of the bridge over the river Rhine in Cologne two equestrian statues are placed. On the cathedral side two statues by Louis Tuaillon of the successors of Wilhelm I: Wilhelm II (1910) and Friedrich III (1911), and on the other side the statues of Friedrich Wilhelm IV and Wilhelm I, both from 1864 by respectively Bläser and Drake. Due to the heavy traffic on the bridge, the condition of the statues is poor.
