Brandenburg Gate role in 2018 European Athletics Championships. It is also the usual finish line of the Berlin Marathon. A Soviet flag flew from a flagpole atop the gate from 1945 until 1957, when it was replaced by an East German flag. Since the reunification of Germany, the flag and the pole have been removed. During the 1953 riots in East Berlin the Soviet flag was torn off by West Germans. In 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy visited the Brandenburg Gate. The Soviets hung large red banners across it to prevent him looking into East Berlin. In the 1980s, decrying the
Brandenburg Gate (Potsdam) and the other gates it was intended to prevent desertion and smuggling. Towards the end of the Seven Years' War, Frederick the Great had the old gate demolished and built, in its stead, this new Brandenburg Gate, as a symbol of his victory. For that reason the Brandenburg Gate resembles a Roman triumphal arch. Its prototype was the Arch of Constantine in Rome. The Roman influence of its architectural style can be seen, for example, in the double columns of Corinthian order as well as the design of the attic. A feature of the Brandenburg Gate is that it has