The record
Five pieces built into an Amnesty International monument at the castle of the counts, with stones from Robben Island.
Five pieces of the Wall are built into a monument at the Gravensteen, the castle of the counts of Flanders, whose dungeons held prisoners between 1407 and 1708 and now house a torture museum. Three of the pieces are set into the monument's foundation and two are visible. The work was made by Amnesty International with the Honest Arts Movement and unveiled on 3 May 1996: an aluminium-rod sculpture with a human silhouette cut out of it, on a stepped grey base. It also carries small stones from Robben Island.
The argument at this site is about imprisonment rather than division, and it is made across five centuries in one object — a medieval prison, a German border, and the island where Nelson Mandela spent eighteen years. At the dedication, Ghent schoolchildren wrote letters to political prisoners.
The artist, who works as MaRf, describes the piece on his own site as a symbolic grave for everyone who „disappeared“ for an opinion or a belief, made at Amnesty International's request; he says fragments of the Wall were left in the plinth, and that stones from the quarry where Mandela did forced labour were set into one corner of it. He does not give a count, so the Foundation's five — three in the foundation, two visible — stands on the Foundation alone.
How did it get here?
Designed by Freddy de Vos of Drongen, who works as MaRf; the wall pieces were given by a German colleague of the artist.
Sources
Listed by the Federal Foundation as #102.
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide, site entry ↗
Five pieces at the Gravensteen, three set into the foundation, the Amnesty International and Honest Arts Movement monument unveiled 3 May 1996, the artist Freddy de Vos, the German donor, and the Robben Island stones.
Inventory listingSource accessed 2026-09-17
Home of MaRf ↗
The artist's own account of the Gedenkbeeld vermiste personen at the Gravensteen, made at Amnesty International's request as a symbolic grave for the disappeared, with fragments of the Berlin Wall left in the plinth and stones from the quarry where Mandela did forced labour set into a corner of it.
Institutional sourceSource accessed 2026-09-17
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide ↗
The source lists this place as a Berlin Wall location. Coordinates, where supplied, are source-reported and may represent a general area. This is not independent verification of authenticity, current presence, or public access.
Inventory listingSource accessed 2026-09-17 · Source record 102
No photograph of this one has been published. If you have taken one, or know when it arrived or who gave it, we would like to hear. Contribute to this record