The record
Three damaged concrete panels on the grass inside the gate of a concrete-additives factory in Normandy, saved from being scrapped when the plant changed hands.
Three reinforced-concrete panels covered in graffiti lie on the grass a few metres inside the entrance of a factory in the industrial zone at Gournay-en-Bray. France Télévisions' franceinfo reported on 8 November 2019 that a French business owner had brought a section back in 1989 hoping to put it in a museum, that it was forgotten until the factory was resold in 2000, and that the new management very nearly threw it out until the director bought it back for a symbolic euro. A German lorry driver, it adds, once recognised the panels as he drove past.
ICI, the France Bleu network, named the factory in November 2023: it is Sika's, a maker of concrete additives, and the three panels, which it calls a triptych, had been recovered by Pierre Conso, head of Ciments Français, at the fall of the Wall and kept at that firm's old plant at Guerville, near Mantes-la-Jolie. Sika bought the plant in 2013 and an employee and a colleague then carried them to Gournay. ICI says they can be seen from outside the perimeter fence, with no plaque, and that the employee, Thierry Guillotin, takes visitors to them on guided visits.
The two reports tell the story from different ends and do not contradict each other, but neither says where in Berlin the panels stood.
How did it get here?
Recovered in 1989 by Pierre Conso of Ciments Français and kept at the firm's plant at Guerville; moved to Gournay-en-Bray after Sika bought the plant in 2013.
Sources
Listed by the Berlin Wall Archive as #149.
Mur de Berlin : des vestiges exposés en Seine-Maritime — franceinfo ↗
8 November 2019: three reinforced-concrete panels displayed behind the gates of an industrial site at Gournay-en-Bray; a French business owner brought them back in 1989, they were forgotten until the factory was resold in 2000 and nearly became waste before the director bought them back for a symbolic euro.
Press reportSource accessed 2026-09-17
Gournay-en-Bray abrite trois pans du mur de Berlin — ICI ↗
9 November 2023: three panels stand on the grass at the Sika factory in Gournay-en-Bray, recovered by Pierre Conso of Ciments Français at the fall of the Wall, kept at Guerville until Sika bought that plant in 2013; visible from outside the fence, with no plaque, and shown on guided visits.
Press reportSource accessed 2026-09-17
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 149
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