This finely detailed painting depicts the 1861 Coronation of King Wilhelm I of Prussia in the medieval Königsberg Castle.
This painting by Adolph Menzel is a beautiful image of pomp and ceremony in the Kingdom of Prussia and a rare look inside the medieval castle that was once headquarters of the Teutonic Knights.
Only a short 10 years later, this King of Prussia will successfully re-unite most of the states of the former German Holy Roman Empire… an Empire that lasted a thousand years until defeated by France in 1806 and then abolished and fragmented into independent states. After three victorious wars… in 1864, 1866, and 1870… King Wilhelm became Kaiser Wilhelm I, Emperor of the new modern Germany. As revenge for the French destruction of the First Reich, Kaiser Wilhelm was coronated in 1871 at the Palace of Versailles, in occupied France.
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For People Proud of their German Heritage 