Viktoria Park

This guide to Viktoria Park in Berlin traces the iron spire atop Kreuzberg back to King Frederick William III's plan for a full gothic church to mark Prussia's victory over Napoleon, a design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel that was scaled down to just the tower's crown when the cost became clear. It follows the twelve armored figures added for each decisive battle of the war, and the 1880s decision by park director Hermann Machtig to give the lonely monument a dramatic setting. Look for the water tumbling down the hillside beside the tower as you climb.