East Side Gallery - Definition and Overview

East Side Gallery

The East Side Gallery is an international memorial for freedom. It is a 1.3km long section of the Berlin Wall located near the center of Berlin on Mühlenstraße in Friedrichshain.

The gallery consists of approximately 100 paintings (photos of all paintings (http://www.die-berliner-mauer.de/en/mauergalerie.html)) by artists from all over the world, painted on the east side of the Berlin Wall. It is possibly the largest and everlasting open air gallery in the world. The first painting was started by Christine Mac Lean in December 1989 immediately after the fall of the wall. Paintings from Kasra Alavi, Kani Alavi, Jim Avignon, Thierry Noir, Ingeborg Blumenthal, Ignasi Blanch i Gisbert and others are followed.

A painting of East Side Gallery

The paintings at the East Side Gallery document the time of change and express the euphoria and great hopes for a better and free future for all people of the world.

A painting of East Side Gallery

Unfortunately two-thirds of the paintings are badly damaged by erosion, graffiti, and vandalism.

Since 2000 one-third of the paintings are restored by the non-profit organization Artist Initiative East Side Gallery e.V. (http://www.eastsidegallery.com/) The objectives of this organization is the restoration and preservation of all paintings.

For tourists the most interesting part of the East Side Gallery is the section close to station Ostbahnhof where all paintings are completely restored.

Also of interest is the river-side part of the East Side Gallery which shows the current art of Berlin's graffiti scene.

Location

• Mühlenstraße, Berlin-Friedrichshain, Germany
• S-Bahn: S3, S5, S7, S75, S9, station Ostbahnhof or Warschauer Straße
• Subway: U1, station Warschauer Straße

External links

Further information and pictures

• http://www.eastsidegallery.com/
• http://www.die-berliner-mauer.de/en/index.html