Beneath this Icarus figure lies a tale of flight and ambition. This is the Otto-Lilienthal-Denkmal. It commemorates Otto Lilienthal. He was a pioneer of flight. He tragically died during a flight test on August 9, 1896. He died the next day.
The Verein deutscher Flugtechniker called for a memorial to Otto Lilienthal in 1909. They later renamed to Reichsflugverein. The monument should be in Berlin. A committee in Lichterfelde also wanted a Lilienthal monument.
The Lichterfelde committee started fundraising. They announced the campaign in the magazine Flugsport. Prince Albert of Schleswig-Holstein supported it. Count Zeppelin also signed the appeal. Donations trickled in slowly.
The Verschönerungsausschuss held a charity festival in 1911. It boosted the memorial fund. Peter Breuer’s Otto Lilienthal bust was presented. Breuer was a candidate for the monument competition.
The 1912 monument competition offered four prizes. Peter Breuer submitted two models. The jury awarded Breuer’s “Icarus” first prize. They chose it for execution. Victor Seiffert won second prize. He proposed a “Daedalus” representation. Peter Breuer also won the third prize. Gottlieb Elster won the fourth prize. He designed Lilienthal with wings like Christ on the cross. All four designs were exhibited in Lichterfelde’s town hall.
The Otto-Lilienthal-Denkmal was unveiled on June 17, 1914. This was weeks before World War I. A memorial square was added. It had stairs and white wooden benches. A hawthorn hedge was planted. It framed the memorial site.
The Otto-Lilienthal-Denkmal’s base was reworked in the 1920s. Vertical plates were removed. The planting was simplified. The Otto-Lilienthal-Denkmal was damaged during World War II. The portrait of Lilienthal suffered. The Jugendstil benches disappeared.
In 1948, a bronze inscription plaque was added. The W. Geisler foundry in Berlin cast it. The weathered Lilienthal portrait was removed in 1956. It was during war damage repairs. The pyramid-shaped sandstone base was cleaned. The inscriptions were reattached. The front inscription was shortened.
A bronze relief plate replaced the lost portrait. Magdalena Müller-Martin created it. She was a sculptor from Steglitz. Another inscription tablet was added below the 1956 inscription.
The press praised the Otto-Lilienthal-Denkmal. They called it the most beautiful monument ever for a technician. The Icarus figure was widely admired. It was used on graves and as decoration. Lauchhammer foundry offered reductions in three sizes.
The Otto-Lilienthal-Denkmal is likely the first public memorial for a technician in Germany. It has been listed as a historic monument since October 23, 2003.
Vandalism damaged Peter Breuer’s portrait head of Lilienthal. In 1956, Magdalena Müller-Martin’s bronze relief portrait concealed the damaged portrait. This relief was removed in 2011. It went to the Steglitz local history museum. Jörn Neumann recreated the damaged portrait head in 2011-2012. He used historical photographs.
The life-size Icarus figure stands on a 4-meter-high base. The base uses reddish granite blocks and sandstone blocks. The statue shows a stylized, naked youth. Wings are attached to his back and arms. His face is turned to the sky.
The figure is symmetrical. The body shows graphic lines and ribs. The statue is mirror-symmetrical. The Icarus figure seems light. The base appears monumental. It likely represents the hill from which Lilienthal made his flight attempts.
The front of the Otto-Lilienthal-Denkmal has a shortened inscription. The inscription reads “DEM VORKAEMPFER DER / FLIEGEKUNST / OTTO LILIENTHAL / 1848-1896”. Another tablet says “ZU EHREN DES ERSTEN / FLIEGERS OTTO LILIENTHAL / GESTALTETE PETER BREUER / IM AUFTRAG LICHTERFELDER / BÜRGER DIESES AM 17.6.1914 / EINGEWEIHTE DENKMAL”. The back has an inscription from Leonardo da Vinci. It speaks of a great bird filling writings with his fame.
The Otto-Lilienthal-Denkmal is complete. It lacks the 1914 staircase. The statue is bronze. The base is porphyry and sandstone.