The record
A segment at the entrance of a museum about genocide and intolerance, in a city with no freely licensed photograph of any of its five sites.
The Museo Memoria y Tolerancia is dedicated to genocide, discrimination and intolerance. Mexico City holds five catalogue records, more than almost any city outside Berlin and the United States, and it is also the largest holding anywhere with no freely licensed photograph of any of its sites — the reason it keeps the placeholder drawing on the front page while smaller cities show a picture.
Mexican press accounts give the piece a fuller biography than most. It is fragment 266, three tonnes, bought in June 1990 by Luis Alonso Sordo Noriega, then in charge of the Museo de Historia Moderna, and shipped from Hamburg to Veracruz. It was shown at the Museo de Historia Moderna for ten years; its previous owner sold it at auction through Casa Morton in May 2017, and it was inaugurated here in April 2018 in the presence of the then president, Enrique Peña Nieto. Conservators from the ENCRyM began studying it in March 2018 and treated it on site from January 2019.
How did it get here?
Fragment 266, acquired in June 1990 by Luis Alonso Sordo Noriega, shipped via Hamburg to Veracruz, sold at auction through Casa Morton in May 2017 and installed at the museum in April 2018.
Sources
Listed by the Berlin Wall Archive as #256.
List of Berlin Wall segments — Wikipedia ↗
A segment displayed at the entrance of the Memory and Tolerance Museum.
General referenceSource accessed 2026-09-17
Muro Berlín. Cómo llegó un fragmento a México, en Memoria y Tolerancia ↗
Milenio: fragment 266, acquired in June 1990 by Luis Alonso Sordo Noriega, then in charge of the Museo de Historia Moderna, where it was shown for ten years; shipped from Hamburg to Veracruz, auctioned by Casa Morton in May 2017 and inaugurated at the museum in April 2018 with the then president present; shown in the vestibule.
Press reportSource accessed 2026-09-17
Restauran fragmento del Muro de Berlín exhibido en el Museo Memoria y Tolerancia ↗
El Universal: the museum's fragment No. 266, a fourth-generation element; restoration studied from March 2018 and carried out on site from January 2019 in the museum atrium.
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 256
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