The East Side Gallery is. the largest stretch of the Berlin Wall still standing, stretching 1.3km. It was painted by 118 International Artists in an organised Project in 1990 after the fall of the wall. The East Side Gallery was declared a Historic Monument in November 1991 and the majority of the paintings were completely renovated in 2009. The border fortifications at this site had special significance; the River Spree between Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg became part of the border strip. Here the entire width of the river belonged to East Berlin. West Berlin territory began at the riverbank on the Kreuzberg side. The East Side Gallery exists today on a section of former “Hinterlandmauer”, the inner wall that had faced East Berlin.
Being the inner wall this section had been completely untouched until the fall of the wall, on the West you could walk up to the wall, whereas in the East no one went close without risking their life. This is why it is so significant that the wall is painted on the east side, a symbol of freedom and a reminder of the tyranny and terror of the divide. The paintings are powerful, unique and express the history and its tragedies. I love the bright colours, the styles of the paintings and the emotions that have been captured. The wall is 12ft high, making walking along the wall an incredible experience, it is the longest open-air gallery in the world.
It made me sad to see that part of the wall had construction work over it, as they construct a hotel/apartment complex in the death strip along the river Spree. There have been protests and a lot of effort to keep the wall protected, and continual outrage at construction companies and property investors trying to remove the wall and build in its place, removing a significant part of history for profit. The one redeeming factor of this building work, was that people had created a ‘secret underground street gallery’ in the walkway under the construction with a very recent message saying “the Berlin Wall is not for sale. History is not for sale. Forever”.
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