The record
The largest stretch of Wall outside Germany — eight segments and a guard tower — held here until the museum closed on the last day of 2019, and now in storage in Maryland.
Until it closed on 31 December 2019, the Newseum held the largest stretch of the Berlin Wall outside Germany: eight intact twelve-foot segments, shown with a BT-9 guard tower — the type that stood over the death strip, and the same type preserved at the Günter Litfin memorial in Berlin. The segments had previously stood at Freedom Park in Rosslyn, Virginia.
When the museum shut, objects it owned went into an art storage facility at an undisclosed location in Maryland, pending loans elsewhere; items on loan went back to their lenders. The Freedom Forum had sold the building to Johns Hopkins University for $372.5 million. This record is kept because an atlas whose subject is objects that move should treat a closure as an event rather than a correction: the largest collection in the country did not disappear, it went into a warehouse, and where it went is one of the more useful things this project can say.
How did it get here?
Previously displayed at Freedom Park, Rosslyn, Virginia, before the Newseum acquired them. Ownership passed with the collection into storage.
Sources & verification
As the Newseum closes its doors, pieces of history and human remains to find a new resting place — The Washington Post ↗
Eight intact twelve-foot sections and the BT-9 tower moved to an art storage facility in Maryland after the 31 December 2019 closure.
Source accessed 2026-09-17
Why the Berlin Wall Still Matters — Foreign Policy ↗
The scale of the Newseum holding and its significance as the largest outside Germany.
Source accessed 2026-09-17
Last verified: Not yet verified
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