Commemorative Monument of The Wall (Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer)

Commemorative Monument of The Wall (Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer) (57)

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The monument on Bernauer Strasse is one of the most original places to view the remains of the Berlin Wall. Here you will be able to see a part of the wall, the documentation centre, an art installation and also a small chapel.

A section of the main wall is preserved here, as well as a piece of the strip of death and another of the interior wall.

The documentation centre was inaugurated on the 10th anniversary of the wall coming down. In its permanent exhibition there is a display of its history. Through documents, photos and videos, you can see the reason behind the wall’s construction on that prophetic day in August 1961 when the first part was erected, as well as the reactions and their consequences between east and west.

There is also a viewing point from where you can see the preserved wall.

Close by is the Reconciliation Chapel, whose history is rather interesting, and up to a point, sinister too. Until 1985, in the spot where you find the chapel today, there stood a church with a tall tower which was left isolated in the strip of death and stopped East Berlin’s authorities from seeing across to the other side of the wall. As was usual for them, a method was devised which was as expeditious as it was radical: with out thinking twice they knocked down the church in 1985. In 2000 this small commemorative chapel was built.

In front of the chapel there is a sculpture which precisely shows a man and woman on their knees, holding each other. This is meant to represent the reconciliation between a citizen of East Berlin and one of West Berlin.

A visit here is very much recommended, if only to get a glimpse into the history of this wall.

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