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18-504: The award consisted of a small statue resembling the quadriga atop the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Werkstatt Deutschland presented the award annually on German Unity Day , which commemorates German reunification in 1990. The award was presented by prominent individuals, including Viktor Yushchenko , and Mikhail Gorbachev . The award was first given in 2003. For the first two years,

36-632: The Hippodrome of Constantinople , possibly on a triumphal arch , they are now in St Mark's Basilica in Venice . Venetian Crusaders looted these sculptures in the Fourth Crusade , which dates them to at least 1204, and placed them on the terrace of St Mark's Basilica . In 1797 , Napoleon carried the quadriga off to Paris. They were returned after Napoleon's fall. Due to the effects of atmospheric pollution,

54-586: The Roman imperial period , and more frequently elephant quadrigae were depicted on coins and other official images. In art and sculpture, quadrigae ridden in by the gods were appropriate to their characters; Neptune's quadriga was drawn, for example, by hippocampi (mythological sea-horses). Some of the most significant full-size free-standing sculptures of quadrigas include, in approximate chronological order: Horses of Saint Mark The Horses of Saint Mark ( Italian : Cavalli di San Marco ), also known as

72-639: The Triumphal Quadriga or Horses of the Hippodrome of Constantinople , is a set of bronze statues of four horses , originally part of a monument depicting a quadriga (a four-horse carriage used for chariot racing ). The horses were placed on the facade, on the loggia above the porch, of St Mark's Basilica in Venice , northern Italy , after the sack and looting of Constantinople in 1204. They remained there until looted by Napoleon in 1797 but were returned in 1815. The sculptures have been removed from

90-486: The quadriga is the chariot of the gods. The god of the Sun Helios , often identified with Apollo , the god of light, was depicted driving his quadriga across the heavens, delivering daylight and dispersing the night. Modern sculptural quadrigas are based on the four bronze Horses of Saint Mark or the "Triumphal Quadriga ", a set of equine Roman or Greek sculptures . Their age is disputed. Originally erected in

108-461: The "four gilt horses that stand above the Hippodrome" that "came from the island of Chios under Theodosius II " mentioned in the 8th- or early 9th-century Parastaseis syntomoi chronikai . As part of the sack of the capital of the Byzantine Empire in the Fourth Crusade , they were looted by Venetian forces in 1204. That same year, the collars on the four horses were added to obscure where

126-591: The Quadriga was not awarded in 2012. The announcement that Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin would be awarded the prize led to a public outcry. Quadriga board members Cem Özdemir of the German Green Party, Jimmy Wales of Misplaced Pages, and Heidelberg University history professor Edgar Wolfrum stepped down in protest. Former recipients Olafur Eliasson and Václav Havel decided to return their awards. The New York Times commented that from

144-655: The animals suggest they were made in Classical Greece of the 5th and 4th centuries BC. In light of their short backs and long legs, it has been argued that they were originally situated above the eye line, probably created to top a triumphal arch or some other grand building. Perhaps commissioned by the Emperor Septimus Severus , they may originally have been made for the Eastern capital of Constantinople , where they were long displayed. Analysis suggests that

162-489: The animals' heads had been severed to allow them to be transported from Constantinople to Venice. Shortly after the Fourth Crusade, Doge Enrico Dandolo sent the horses to Venice , where they were installed on the terrace of the façade of St Mark's Basilica in 1254. Petrarch admired them there. In 1797, Napoleon had the horses forcibly removed from the basilica and carried off to Paris , where they were used in

180-505: The award ceremony took place at Konzerthaus Berlin . From 2005 until 2008, the ceremony was held at Komische Oper Berlin opera house. In 2009, the award ceremony was hosted at the seat of the Foreign Office of Germany . The announcement that Vladimir Putin would receive the award in 2011 was widely condemned. As a result of protests by Quadriga board members and former recipients, the 2011 awards and ceremonies were cancelled. Likewise,

198-451: The chariot of gods and heroes on Greek vases and in bas-relief . During the festival of the Halieia , the ancient Rhodians would sacrifice a quadriga -chariot by throwing it into the sea. The quadriga was adopted in ancient Roman chariot racing . Quadrigas were emblems of triumph. Victory or Fame are often depicted as the triumphant woman driving it. In classical mythology ,

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216-816: The design of the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel together with a quadriga . In 1815, following the final defeat of Napoleon, the horses were returned to Venice by Captain Dumaresq . He had fought at the Battle of Waterloo and was with the Coalition forces in Paris where he was selected, by the Emperor of Austria , to take the horses down from the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and return them to St Mark's in Venice. For

234-514: The facade and placed in the interior of St Mark's for conservation purposes, with replicas in their position on the loggia. The sculptures date from classical antiquity . Many scholars believe they were sculpted in the 2nd or 3rd century AD, noting similarities to the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius in Rome (c. 175 AD). But some say the evident technical expertise and naturalistic rendering of

252-471: The original quadriga was retired to a museum and replaced with a replica in the 1980s. Quadrigae also appear on the frieze of the Libyco-Punic Mausoleum of Dougga , which dates to the 2nd century BC. Though quadrigae were usually drawn by horses, occasionally, other animals or mythological creatures were employed in spectacles and in art. Elephants were sometimes used to draw quadrigae in

270-424: The sculptures are at least 96.67% copper, and therefore should be viewed not as made from bronze but of an impure copper . The relatively low tin content increased the casting temperature to 1200–1300 °C. The copper was chosen to give a more satisfactory mercury gilding . The horses, along with the quadriga with which they were depicted, were long displayed at the Hippodrome of Constantinople ; they may be

288-476: The team of four horses rather than the chariot they pull. In Greek, a four-horse chariot was known as τέθριππον téthrippon . The four-horse abreast arrangement in a quadriga is distinct from the more common four-in-hand array of two horses in the front plus two horses behind those. Quadrigae were raced in the Ancient Olympic Games and other contests. They are represented in profile pulling

306-592: The volume of outcry the ranks of people feeling Putin, a former East Germany -assigned KGB agent and later chief, had rolled back democracy and human rights in Russia are apparently quite large. The organisers decided not to make any awards in 2011 as a result of the controversy. They released a statement on 16 July 2011 saying they acted "in light of the growing and unbearable pressure and the danger of further escalation" and that they deeply regretted hearing news of Havel's decision. The awards ceremony scheduled for that October

324-517: Was therefore cancelled. Quadriga A quadriga is a car or chariot drawn by four horses abreast and favoured for chariot racing in classical antiquity and the Roman Empire . The word derives from the Latin quadrigae , a contraction of quadriiugae , from quadri- : four, and iugum : yoke. In Latin the word quadrigae is almost always used in the plural and usually refers to

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