The record
Two fragments a Danish sculptor obtained by writing to both mayors of Berlin in November 1989 — for a monument he never built.
Two fragments about two metres high, shot through with rusting steel grid, stand in the garden of the sculptor Jens Galschiøt. They were meant to be assembled into a monument to the opening of the border and never were.
The timing explains the rest. Galschiøt was so struck by the pictures from 9 November 1989 that he wrote that same month to both mayors of the divided city asking for some segments, and both were willing. In December the East German government decided instead to sell what was left of the border at a price — the beginning of the trade that scattered the elements in this catalogue — and the moment when a sculptor could simply ask for a piece and be given one had closed, a matter of weeks after it opened.
How did it get here?
Requested directly from the two mayors of Berlin in November 1989, before the GDR began selling the remaining elements commercially.
Sources
Listed by the Federal Foundation as #108 and by the Berlin Wall Archive as #308.
Federal Foundation — Berlin Wall worldwide, site entry ↗
The two fragments in Galschiøt's garden, the monument that was never assembled, his November 1989 approach to both Berlin mayors and their willingness, and the GDR's December decision to sell the remains.
Inventory listingSource 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 108
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 308
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