The record
Where the Newseum's collection stood first: a dozen segments on an elevated park built on an abandoned motorway ramp.
Freedom Park is a two-block elevated linear park in Rosslyn, built on a concrete structure originally thrown up for a motorway overpass that was never finished. It opened in 1996 as a joint venture with the Newseum and the Freedom Forum Journalists Memorial, and it was dedicated to the idea of freedom in a fairly literal way: a dozen Berlin Wall segments, a door from a cell that held Martin Luther King, stones from the Warsaw ghetto, and a spiral of dichroic glass carrying the names of reporters killed at work.
This record completes a chain the catalogue can now follow end to end. The segments came here in 1996 and went across the Potomac in 2008, when the Newseum moved to Pennsylvania Avenue; the Newseum closed on the last day of 2019 and its eight sections and the guard tower went into storage in Maryland. Three addresses, one collection, thirty years. By October 2015 what stood in Rosslyn was a large mural behind a fenced-off, weed-filled lot, with the exhibit labels still largely intact in front of the fence, explaining an exhibit that no longer existed. The parcel, at the rear of 1101 Wilson Boulevard and facing North Kent Street, is owned by the county and was leased to the Newseum; that month it was proposed as a children's play area. No segment was reported still there.
How did it get here?
Originally about a dozen segments, erected when the park opened in 1996 under the Freedom Forum. Moved to the Newseum in Washington in 2008.
Sources
Listed by the Berlin Wall Archive as #17.
Freedom Park (Arlington, Virginia) — Wikipedia ↗
The park's 1996 founding as a joint venture with the Newseum and the Journalists Memorial, the dozen wall segments, and the other objects displayed.
General referenceSource accessed 2026-09-17
Outdoor Berlin Wall exhibit in Rosslyn to become children's play area — ARLnow ↗
13 October 2015: the wall portions were moved to the new Newseum in D.C. in 2008; what stands is a large mural behind a fenced-off, weed-filled lot, with the exhibit labels still largely intact; the county-owned parcel at the rear of 1101 Wilson Blvd, facing N. Kent Street and leased to the Newseum, was to become a children's play area.
Press reportSource accessed 2026-09-17
The strange history of Freedom Park — ARLnow ↗
8 June 2011: the Newseum moved from Rosslyn to D.C. in 2008, and the museum had used the park for some of its artefacts.
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 17
Source-reported segments: 2. This is not a separately verified count.
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