The site of the monument was previously occupied by the Elbpavillon restaurant which was removed in 1901. Mayor Johann Georg Mönckeberg established a citizens' commission to erect the monument at the site.
The monument is approximately 35 m (115 ft) high, weighs 600 t (590 long tons; 660 short tons), and is the world's largest Bismarck monument.[1][2]
The designers created a large network of catacombs beneath the monument. In the years 1939 to 1940, they became an air-raid shelter, offering protection for up to 650 people.[2] The architect's intent for the catacombs remain unknown, however, as they, and the whole interior of the monument, are no longer accessible for safety reasons. In the 1970s, a soldier who had served in the British army during the occupation in Germany discovered a tunnel beneath the Bismarck memorial which led to a Nazi hideout while in Hamburg. He contacted the Daily Mirror newspaper which, in turn, contacted the Burgermeister in Hamburg. After viewing the tunnel that the soldier had described, authorities decided to seal it.[citation needed]