The scale of this statue is really hard to appreciate until you see people standing next to it and…read morewalk up to it yourself. This monument, at the Theresienwiese in Munich, is part of an ensemble which also includes the Ruhmeshalle and a stairway leading up to the statue. This impressive work was commissioned by Ludwig I of Bavaria, who had a contest to choose the specific design. The final design selected was a female personification of the Bavarian homeland which represented its strength and glory. The monument was cast at the Munich foundry of J.B. Stiglmair between 1844 and 1850 and it was the first colossal statue since Classical Antiquity to consist entirely of cast bronze. Inside the statue there is a circular staircase leading up to a platform in the head, where four openings in the helmet provide a view of the Theresienwiese and downtown Munich (which you have to pay a fee to enter and climb to the top). Due to the size the monument had to be produced in several parts; it is 18.52 metres (60 ft. 9 in.) high, weighs about 87.36 tons and it rests on a stone base which is 8.92 (28 ft.) metres high.