The Befreiungshalle (Hall of Liberation) is a neoclassical monument on the Michelsberg hill above the town of Kelheim. It stands upstream of Regensburg on the river Danube at the confluence of the Danube and the Altmühl.
King Ludwig I of Bavaria ordered the Befreiungshalle to be built in order to commemorate the victories against Napoleon during the Wars of Liberation that lasted from 1813 to 1815.
The construction was started in 1842 by Friedrich von Gärtner in a mixture of Neoclassical and Christian styles. It occurred on Michelsberg, in a place previously occupied by a part of the ruins of a pre-historic fortification or town, thought by some to have been Alcimoennis. At the behest of the King, Leo von Klenze later altered the plans and completed the building in 1863.
The powerful-looking rotunda made of Kelheim limestone rests on a three-tier base, which is designed as an octadecagon. The outer facade is divided by 18 pillars with 18 colossal statues by Johann Halbig as allegories of the German tribes that took part in the battles. These are: 'Franconian, Bohemian, Tyrolean, Bavarian, Austrian, Prussian, Hanoverian, Moravian, Saxony, Silesian, Brandenburger, Pomeranian, Mecklenburg, Westphalia, Hesse, Thuringian, Rhinelander, Swabia' (circulating in this order with an arbitrary start).
References:The Villa d'Este is a 16th-century villa in Tivoli, near Rome, famous for its terraced hillside Italian Renaissance garden and especially for its profusion of fountains: the extraordinary system contains fifty-one fountains and nymphaeums, 398 spouts, 364 water jets, 64 waterfalls, and 220 basins, fed by 875 meters of canals, channels and cascades, and all working entirely by the force of gravity, without pumps. It is now an Italian state museum, and is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site.
Tivoli had been a popular summer residence since ancient Roman times due to its altitude, cooler temperatures and its proximity to the Villa Hadriana, the summer residence of the Emperor Hadrian I.
The Villa was commissioned by Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este (1509-1572), second son of Alfonso I d'Este, the Duke of Ferrara and grandson of Pope Alexander VI, along with Lucrezia Borgia.