The record
Two segments painted directly by STIK and Thierry Noir for the museum's doorway, which stayed behind when the museum moved out in 2025.
Two surviving segments, painted directly by the contemporary artists STIK and Thierry Noir for the Migration Museum's installation *WALL*, stood at the entrance to the museum in a shopping centre in Lewisham. The museum's director described the work as a doorway and a symbol of friendship to all without exception — a migration museum using a border wall as its front door.
Noir is the link back to the original: between 1984 and 1989 he illegally painted more than five kilometres of the Wall in Berlin, to make it colourful and ridiculous and so remove some of its threat. Painting surviving elements again, four decades later, in a shopping centre in south London, is a continuation rather than a reproduction.
The museum's last day at Lewisham Shopping Centre, its temporary home since 2020, was 30 March 2025. It put its exhibition and other resources into storage at Big Yellow in New Cross, has no venue open to the public, and is working towards a permanent home in Aldgate, in the City of London, due to open in 2028. None of those notices mentions the segments, and they did not go with the museum: a photograph on Geograph taken on 20 December 2025 shows both still in the central atrium of the shopping centre, its caption noting that the museum has moved. Who now keeps or owns them is not stated, nor whether they are to go to Aldgate, and nothing read here records them after December 2025.
How did it get here?
Painted for the installation by STIK and Thierry Noir; Noir's own account places the painting at IWM London in November 2019, on two original segments brought from Berlin especially for it. Who has owned them since the museum left Lewisham in 2025 is not stated.
Sources
Listed by the Berlin Wall Archive as #227.
Wall — Migration Museum ↗
The museum's own account: two surviving Berlin Wall segments painted directly by STIK and Thierry Noir, and Noir's five kilometres painted between 1984 and 1989.
Institutional sourceSource accessed 2026-09-17
Migration Museum, London — Wikipedia ↗
The Lewisham Shopping Centre site and the museum's relocation.
General referenceSource accessed 2026-09-17
The Berlin Wall in Lewisham — Geograph Britain and Ireland ↗
Photograph of 20 December 2025: the two sections of the Berlin Wall in the central atrium of Lewisham Shopping Centre; the caption notes that they stood outside the Migration Museum, which has now moved.
PhotographSource accessed 2026-09-17
Thank you, Lewisham — Migration Museum ↗
Sunday 30 March 2025 was the museum's final day in Lewisham Shopping Centre, its temporary home since the start of 2020. The post does not mention the segments.
Institutional sourceSource accessed 2026-09-17
Big Yellow supports the Migration Museum — Migration Museum ↗
May 2025: after leaving Lewisham, the museum stores its exhibition, learning and other resources at Big Yellow in New Cross. The segments are not named.
Institutional sourceSource accessed 2026-09-17
Contact us — Migration Museum ↗
The museum's Fleet Street address is a registered office only; it has no venue open to the public.
Institutional sourceSource accessed 2026-09-17
Our permanent home — Migration Museum ↗
The museum's permanent home is to open in Aldgate, in the City of London, in 2028. The page does not say whether WALL will go there.
Institutional sourceSource accessed 2026-09-17
Why two random chunks of the Berlin Wall can be found in a south London shopping centre — Migration Museum (reposting My London) ↗
My London, 20 July 2024: the two segments are at the Migration Museum in Lewisham Shopping Centre.
Press reportSource accessed 2026-09-17
Imperial War Museum London — Thierry Noir ↗
The artist's own page: in November 2019 Noir and STIK painted their work at IWM London directly onto two original pieces of the Berlin Wall, brought from Berlin especially for the installation.
Institutional sourceSource 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 227
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