Berlin Wall Memorial
Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer
The original site of the Berlin Wall along the 1.4-km Bernauer Straße. It is the only section where the double wall, death strip and watchtowers are fully preserved, and the documentation center's viewing platform looks down over it.
The Berlin Wall Memorial lies on Bernauer Straße, on the boundary between the Mitte and Wedding districts. When the wall was built on August 13, 1961, the houses on the south side of this street belonged to East Berlin, while the pavement belonged to West Berlin. Images of residents jumping from their windows to the west spread around the world. The buildings were then bricked up and demolished, and this became one of the places where escape and tragedy were most concentrated. Today the memorial extends 1.4 km along the street and is the only place in Berlin where the wall, inner wall, death strip (sand, lamp posts, patrol road) and watchtowers are all fully preserved. The core area is enclosed by two rusted steel-plate walls, through whose gaps you can see the original condition. The 'Window of Remembrance' displays photographs of 140 people who died at the Berlin Wall. The Chapel of Reconciliation stands on the site of the Church of Reconciliation, which was blown up by East German authorities. Markings on the ground show where escape tunnels were dug and later demolished; Tunnel 57 helped 57 people escape to West Berlin in 1964. Across the street, the Dokumentationszentrum (Documentation Center, free) has a permanent exhibition and screenings. Its observation platform overlooks the entire death strip and is the best place to understand how the Berlin Wall was built. The visitor center next door at Bernauer Straße 119 provides maps and multilingual guides. Outdoor display panels along the street feature historical photographs and audio stations, and audio guides can be rented. The whole memorial is free, and the outdoor sections are open all day. Ten minutes' walk east is the Mauerpark ('Wall Park'), built on a former section of the death strip, which hosts Berlin's largest flea market and open-air karaoke on Sundays. Getting there: S-Bahn lines S1, S2 or S25 to Nordbahnhof station (the station has an exhibition on the 'ghost stations'), or U-Bahn line U8 to Bernauer Straße station, or tram M10 to Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer stop.
Opening hours
Outdoor areas open all day; documentation center and visitor center Tuesday–Sunday 10:00 AM–6:00 PM, closed Mondays
Nearby sights
- Museum Island
- Mauerpark
- Hackesche Höfe
- Berlin Cathedral
- DDR Museum
- Reichstag Building
- Gendarmenmarkt
- Humboldt Forum