East Side Gallery: reviews and practical tips

+13
recos
4.5/5 4 reviews
Mühlenstraße 4, 10243 Berlin, Germany
Mühlenstraße 4, 10243 Berlin, Germany
East Side Gallery à Berlin
La traversée du mur
East Side Gallery sur le Mur de Berlin

Visiting the East Side Gallery

The East Side Gallery is an open-air art exhibition spanning a former section of the Berlin Wall along Mühlenstraße. It is covered in street art and graffiti across its 1.3-kilometer length. In total, 118 murals by artists from 21 different countries adorn the wall, alongside various messages of peace and hope from both famous and anonymous authors.

A massive open-air gallery in Berlin

Today, this portion of the Berlin Wall stands as one of the largest outdoor exhibits in the world. Artworks from professionals and amateurs line over a kilometer of the city center. Among the most recognizable pieces is a reproduction of the Fraternal Kiss by Dmitri Vrubel, which frequently appears in history books, depicting Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German leader Erich Honecker sharing a kiss. The Trabant mural by Birgit Kinder is another iconic work, showing a Trabant, the classic East Berlin car, crashing through the wall.

Historical preservation versus urban development

While this section of the wall remains standing, it is frequently threatened by real estate development. Located in the heart of the city, the wall creates an urban divide that some construction projects seek to bridge or bypass. In 2006, for example, as part of the MediaSpree development project, an 89-meter section of the wall was moved a few meters to the west to improve access to the river that runs through Berlin, the Spree.

Reviews of East Side Gallery

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Summary of 4 reviews
4.5/5
Average rating
+13
Total recommendations

Ratings by visit type

With family
3.8
As a couple
4.3
With friends
4.8

Avygeo ranking

#423
in the world
#344
in Europe
#13
in Germany
#6
in Berlin

A place filled with history

This preserved section of the Berlin Wall is a real piece of history that you absolutely have to see. Some of the graffiti is truly magnificent. Even if not every piece of art is equal, it is worth a look. The wall is free and open to the public.

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A historic wall covered in just about anything

Free and open access along an old section of the Berlin Wall, covered in graffiti and street art. Naturally, given the symbolic value of the wall, it is intriguing.
Now, from a purely artistic standpoint, the creations are pretty uneven. Some are interesting, others express political messages, and some, in the end, just seemed pointless to me.

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Great way to showcase the Berlin Wall

How do you preserve a part of the Berlin Wall without turning it into an urban eyesore and without erasing its symbolic value? Berliners had the brilliant idea of setting up the East Side Gallery. Many artists came from all over the world to cover hundreds of meters of the Wall with paintings and graffiti. Sometimes abstract, sometimes political, these works offer art lovers the chance to come and visit this Wall, and inevitably to take at least a little interest in its history.

This is a great idea that highlights a neighborhood, a history, and art. It seems like a win for everyone, even if it is not always very pretty.

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Open-air museum

For hundreds of meters, a section of the Berlin Wall has been preserved and covered in paintings and graffiti. Not all the creations have the same level of skill, but it is interesting to be able to visit this historic site of Germany and street art for free.

1
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