The record
A twelve-foot piece standing in a reflecting pool, obtained in 1998 when Berlin had one piece left to give away.
A twelve-foot piece stands in a shaded reflecting pool in Liberty Plaza, near Memorial Hall, where it arrived in 1998. The plaza was designed as a whole by the artist and professor emeritus Richard Turner, with the line Abraham Lincoln took from scripture — “a house divided cannot stand” — chiselled into the stone surrounding the pond. The segment has been defaced at least once since, which is a reminder that an object left outdoors and unglazed continues to accumulate history.
How did it get here?
Chapman's president Jim Doti saw the Berlin Wall monument at the Reagan Presidential Library in 1996 and wrote to the mayor of Berlin; with help from Marilyn Harran the university obtained a piece at a point when the city had decided to keep what remained and had one left to give away.
Sources
Listed by the Federal Foundation as #186 and by the Berlin Wall Archive as #313.
How Chapman University brought a piece of the Berlin Wall to campus — Chapman Newsroom ↗
The university's own account: the 1996 Reagan Library visit, the approach to Berlin, the 1998 arrival, Richard Turner's design and the Lincoln inscription.
Institutional sourceSource 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.
Inventory listingSource accessed 2026-09-17 · Source record 186
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 313
Source-reported segments: 1. This is not a separately verified count.
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