The Eastside Gallery is not only the longest segment of the Berlin Wall that still stands today; it is likely the longest open air gallery in the world. It runs for some 1300+ meters, a bit more than 8 tenths of a mile, along Muehlenstrasse in the Friedrichshain district.
The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 ushered in change, hope for a brighter future in a reunited Germany, and hope for a freedom-filled future for all peoples and nations. Artists from all corners of the globe gathered in Berlin to capture and communicate the joy and excitement spawned by this hope.
Today, many of the murals show their age thanks to 25 years of weathering. Graffiti scrawled by millions of visitors has taken a damaging toll on the gallery as well. Since the early part of this century, restoration work has been on-going. You can find full information about the Eastside Gallery, its history, and efforts to restore and maintain it here.
Below you can see that, despite the existing damage, the original murals along Muehlenstrasse remain evocative. They and the constant flux of new artwork created along the length of the west side of the gallery are well worth a visit.
- Der Bruderkuss by Dmitri Vrubel is one of the most popular murals in the Eastside Gallery
- Berlin!
- La Buerlinica … Cacciatore
- Abstrax – straight attitude loyal
- Geistreise or Mental Trip … Andy Weiss
- Stay free … Christoph Frank
- Sonic Malade … Greta Ida Csatlòs
- Berlin bei Nacht … Yvonne Onischke
- Die Beständigkeit der Ignoranz or The persistence of Ignorance … Karsten Wenzel
- Ein Bierlin aus Berlin
- Wir sind ein Volk … Schamil Gimajev
- Es geschah im November … Kani Alavi
- Willkommen … Oliver Meline
- Himmel und Sucher … Peter Russell
- Justicia … Klaus Niethardt
- Tolerance … Mary Mackey
- Auf da Maja, auf der Lauer or On the Wall, on the lookout … unidentified artist
- Inside out – outside in … Mij K dO
- Rock & roll … Ewen Gur
- Un Kolor Distinto … Jekse Cines
- Panda … Leo Lunatic
- Stoops
- “Dolph Landgruen”
- Three pigs … unidentified artist
- Destroy all smartphones … unidentified artist
- Wheatpaste … unidentified artist
- K Crew
- Wagen Punks … K Crew
- Berlin … Kontracorriente Punks
- Luv ya Aja
- Unidentified
- Oshie, Violet, Detroit
- Some Day … Orbit
- Disek
- Stone
- Hard Dye
- Burning & looting … Str8-Edge
- Schrippe Korn
- Spurt
- Shore
- Senat
- Sonake
- Sem Acht
- Skef Kopf
- Die Spree Piraten
- Icy and Sot
The forthcoming article about Urban Nation will round out the recent visit Charm City Streets made to Berlin, Germany.
© All images and text are copyrighted and are the property of David Muse, unless noted otherwise. You may use any images or text for non-commercial purposes only if you credit the photographer and Charm City Streets. Thank you!