Berlin Wall Memorial

The Berlin Wall Memorial commemorates the Berlin Wall division, and the deaths that took place there. In 1998 the Federal Republic of Germany and the Federal State of Berlin created the monument. Situated on the border strip that was originally in East Berlin, an open-air exhibition is using Bernauer Strasse to explain the division’s history.

The museum consists of the Divided City Monument in Memory and the Victims of Soviet Tyranny, as well as the Portal of Remembrance. The grounds also include the Reconciliation Chapel and the excavated ruins of an old apartment building whose exterior acted as the border wall until the early 1980s.

Quick facts

• Name: Berlin Wall Memorial
• Location: Berlin, Germany
• Type of attraction: Architectural/Memorial
• Built: 1998
• Ticket price: Free

On the other side of the street which belonged to the western part of the city are the Visitor Center and the Documentation Center with a viewing platform. The “Border Stations and Ghost Stations in Divided Berlin” exhibition is shown inside the S-Bahn station at Nordbahnhof.

Officially dedicated in “remembrance of the division of the city from 13 August 1961 to 9 November 1989 and to commemorate the victims of communist tyranny,” the central memorial site of the Federal Republic of Germany and the State of Berlin has been located on Bernauer Strasse since 1998. There was also a Chapel of Reconciliation and a Documentation Centre for the Berlin Wall nearby. An ever-increasing number of tourists and locals alike have been flocking to these three locations in recent years due to their shared fascination with the Berlin Wall.

In accordance with the “Overall Concept for the Remembrance of the Berlin Wall” adopted by the Berlin senate in 2006, the Berlin Wall Memorial was expanded in area and greatly enhanced in quality on the former border strip on Bernauer Strasse beginning in 2008.

The area between Gartenstrasse and Ackerstrasse was transformed into a tourist attraction with the addition of a visitor centre, outdoor amenities, and an outdoor display. The old Ackerstraße location had a watchtower rebuilt there as well. Grün Berlin assumed charge of the project in 2011. The Stiftung Berliner Mauer, the facility’s operator, relies on Grün Berlin to care after the grounds.

Located on both sides of Bernauer Strasse, not far from Mauerpark, is a memorial honoring the victims of the Holocaust. The public exhibition about the split of Berlin is exemplified by Bernauer Strasse, which is located on the border strip originally located in East Berlin.

The “Window of Remembrance” and the memorial to the victims of communist tyranny are essential features of the site. The site also features the excavated foundations of a previous residential building whose façade served as the border wall until the early 1980s, in addition to the Chapel of Reconciliation.

The memorial’s design concept was conceived by the Berlin planning agency sinai, and it draws inspiration from the preserved remnants of the border installations. The memorial then uses Corten steel to recreate the lost traces. This is true of the Wall’s path, the location of the tunnels leading underground, and the sites of the destroyed border homes. Archaeological windows reveal the ruins of homes and streets along the border’s older layers of defences.

The Wall’s reddish steel bars that indicate its path are eye-catching. They can look both open and shut from different perspectives. Informational QR codes are located at various spots around the grounds. The documentation facility with an observation tower opened in 2014 and is located on the west side of the street, opposite the visitor centre designed by Mola+Winkelmüller Architekten (completion: 2009). The permanent installation “Border Stations and Ghost Stations in Divided Berlin” is located at the Nordbahnhof S-Bahn station. It records how the city’s transport system changed as a result of building the Wall.

Interesting facts about Berlin Wall Memorial

Here are some interesting facts about this amazing historic landmark:

• It is estimated that 138 people died trying to cross the Berlin Wall during the Cold War era.
• Many people kept pieces of the Wall as a souvenir, some of which you can buy on eBay.
• The Wall was up for relatively short period, from 1961 until 1989.

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