The record
Four segments the GDR itself gave the Council of Europe in 1990, painted by Thierry Noir and raised outside the court in 1997.
Four segments — recorded as numbers 125 to 128, about 4 m across and 3.60 m high — stand in the grounds of the European Court of Human Rights. They carry work by Thierry Noir, among the first artists to paint the Wall while it stood. Siting them at the court that hears human rights cases against forty-something states is an argument about what the Wall was: not a Cold War curiosity but a rights violation with a building full of lawyers now attached to it.
How did it get here?
Donated in 1990 by the German Democratic Republic to the Council of Europe, and erected in front of the court in 1997. Along with the three segments Lothar de Maizière handed over at Koblenz, this is one of very few gifts in this catalogue made by the East German state itself rather than by Berlin after unification.
Sources & verification
Strasbourg, F — The Wall Net ↗
Segments 125 to 128, the 1990 GDR donation to the Council of Europe, the dimensions, Noir's painting and the 1997 erection.
Source 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.
Source accessed 2026-09-17 · Source record 120
Last verified: Not yet verified
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