AN ATLAS OF WHAT REMAINS
The Berlin Walldidn’t disappear.It went worldwide
A Berlin Experiences project
The top 10 cities.
32sitesBerlinGermanyVedha242424 · CC0
8sitesBrusselsBelgiumAdrian Grycuk · CC BY-SA 3.0 pl
5sitesLondonUnited KingdomMan vyi · public domain
5sitesNew YorkUnited StatesGaurav1146 · CC BY-SA 4.0
5sitesWashington D.C.United StatesWasted Time R · CC BY-SA 3.0
- 4sitesDuesseldorfGermany52° 31′ N · 13° 24′ E
Photograph not yet sourced
- 4sitesMexico CityMexico52° 31′ N · 13° 24′ E
Photograph not yet sourced
4sitesSeoulSouth KoreaGallaghb · public domain
3sitesBonnGermanyDietmar Rabich · CC BY-SA 4.0
- 3sitesBremenGermany52° 31′ N · 13° 24′ E
Photograph not yet sourced
Better known sections of the wall.
Imperial War Museum
Indiano's open mouth reading CHANGE YOUR LIFE. He raced the demolition crews and painted 223 sections in seven months.
Photograph Man vyi public domain. Painted work Jürgen Grosse (Indiano).
CIA headquarters
Three sections set across the path to the entrance, oriented as they stood in Berlin — graffiti west, whitewash east.
Photograph The Central Intelligence Agency public domain.
Start where
it all stood.
Explore Berlin at street level. A dedicated atlas for the city at the heart of this project, designed for curious minds and wandering feet.
Find the Wall in Berlin A CITY TO EXPLORE. A HISTORY TO UNDERSTAND.The artists
Thierry Noir
Painted the west face from 1984 because, he said, it was quicker than thinking about it. His heads travelled to Los Angeles, Plovdiv and a Yokohama forecourt.
The Wall Project, Wilshire Boulevard. Five of the ten segments carry new murals, one of them his. Photograph Carol M. Highsmith public domain. Painted work Thierry Noir, among others.
Kiddy Citny
His crowned hearts on Waldemarstraße went to Manhattan and to a business park in North Carolina. He and Noir later sued the traders who sold their work.
Königskopf, painted 1985. Wallstraße 52, Berlin-Mitte. Photograph OTFW, Berlin CC BY-SA 3.0. Painted work Kiddy Citny.
Jürgen Grosse — Indiano
Raced the demolition crews: 223 sections in seven months. One of them, reading CHANGE YOUR LIFE, stands outside the Imperial War Museum in London.
The section he painted, in Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park outside the Imperial War Museum. Photograph Man vyi public domain. Painted work Jürgen Grosse (Indiano).
Kani Alavi
Organised the artists who turned the Mühlenstraße stretch into the East Side Gallery, and painted the face that now looks out over the United Nations garden.
Es geschah im November, East Side Gallery, Berlin. Photograph Schokifaktor CC BY 4.0. Painted work Kani Alavi.
There’s more to the story.
01Border Wall or Hinterland Wall? The Berlin Wall Was Two Walls
The most photographed Berlin Wall in the world faced east, not west. Knowing which wall you are looking at changes what a surviving segment means.
02How to Tell a Real Piece of the Berlin Wall
Most fragments sold as Berlin Wall are concrete of uncertain origin carrying paint applied long after 1989. The arithmetic explains why, and three questions sort them out.
03The Mauerspechte: Who Actually Broke Up the Berlin Wall
The wall woodpeckers are remembered as a charming footnote. They were also the largest uncontrolled demolition in postwar Europe, and they destroyed most of the evidence.
04Where Did the Berlin Wall Go?
The Wall did not simply vanish in 1989. It was sold, given away and crushed for road aggregate — and pieces of it now stand in at least 62 countries.
05Who Painted the Berlin Wall?
Thierry Noir, Kiddy Citny, Indiano and Kani Alavi painted the surfaces the world remembers — and then watched their work sold at auction without them.