The record
A fragment on the north-east side of Costa Rica's foreign ministry, in the country that abolished its army in 1948.
The fragment stands at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and it is worth noting where. Costa Rica abolished its standing army in 1948 and spent the Cold War as an unarmed state in a region full of proxy conflicts, which makes it an unusual address for a piece of military border fortification.
La Nación gives the piece a history. It stands in the north-east garden of the Casa Amarilla, on Calle 13 in Barrio Otoya, about three metres high and one wide, and was received in 1994 through Hans-Dietrich Genscher, who was fond of Costa Rica and an honorary citizen of it, at the request of the Costa Rican foreign minister, Bernd Niehaus. When the paper looked, it sat neglected in an empty fountain, half hidden by fencing and vegetation, with no public access and no plaque to speak of; an architect it quoted called that anti-urban.
How did it get here?
Received in 1994 through Hans-Dietrich Genscher at the request of the Costa Rican foreign minister Bernd Niehaus.
Sources
Listed by the Federal Foundation as #235 and by the Berlin Wall Archive as #365.
List of Berlin Wall segments — Wikipedia ↗
A fragment displayed on the north-east side of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
General referenceSource accessed 2026-09-17
Un fragmento de Berlín yace en el olvido josefino ↗
La Nación: a fragment 3 m high and 1 m wide in the north-east garden of the Casa Amarilla on Calle 13, Barrio Otoya; received in 1994 through Hans-Dietrich Genscher at the request of the Costa Rican foreign minister Bernd Niehaus; found neglected in an empty fountain without public access.
Press reportSource accessed 2026-09-17
30 años de la caída del Muro de Berlín: el extraño destino de algunos de sus trozos (BBC Mundo, republished by El Universal) ↗
Lists a segment 3 m high and 1 m wide behind the Costa Rican chancellery, donated in 1994.
Press reportSource 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 235
Berlin Wall Archive ↗
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 365
Source-reported segments: 1. This is not a separately verified count.
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