The record
A 6,338 lb panel Reagan welcomed himself in 1991 — painted with a butterfly on one face, bare grey concrete on the other.
A panel weighing 6,338 lb and standing about nine and a half feet high sits on the west side of the library entrance. It arrived in April 1991, seven months before the library opened, and Reagan welcomed it in person. The display works because of the two faces: one carries colour, including a butterfly painted before 1989, and the other is unadorned grey. Nobody could reach the eastern face to paint it. That contrast is the whole argument of the site, made without a label — and it is also the same fact the CIA is careful about at Langley, where the sections keep their Berlin orientation.
How did it get here?
Received by the library in April 1991. The painted face has since been restored by artists, which puts this record alongside Fort Knox and Portland, Maine in the small group where the concrete is original and the surface has been worked on afterwards. Here the restoration is documented rather than silent.
Sources & verification
Butterfly reborn: Berlin Wall panel gets face-lift at Reagan Library — Simi Valley Acorn ↗
The panel's weight and height, the April 1991 arrival, the butterfly, the plain eastern face and the later restoration.
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 191
Last verified: Not yet verified
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