[Unveiled 1859]
1759-1805 Sculpted: 1859 Sculptor: C.L. Richter
Gift of German-Americans
This bronze bust of German dramatist,
poet, historian and philosopher
Johann C. F. von Schiller stoically gazes
toward the Central Park Mall and Bandshell.
Originally placed within the Ramble in
1859 it was relocated to the Mall alongside
another German icon, Beethoven in 1951.
His achievements have ranked him as one
of the founders of modern German literature,
giving him notable stature as the greatest
dramatist in the history of the German
theater and one of the greatest in
European literature.
German New Yorkers presented this bust
of Schiller to the City, which was dedicated
during a three-day Schiller festival in 1859,
the centennial of the poet's birth.