30th Anniversary of the fall of the Wall: The Route of Revolution

Between 4 and 10 November, Berlin will become a huge open-air area for exhibitions, concerts, film screenings and talks with contemporary witnesses. Along the Route of the Revolution, a special programme with installations, sounds and projections will be presented at seven original locations.

The highlight of the festival is the evening of 9 November, when Berlin transforms into the world’s largest concert stage along the route. Various international artists will celebrate with Berlin and the world 30 years fall of the Wall.

Reunification, Freedom and Identification

On 9 November 1989, Berlin was reunited. The Berlin Wall fell – the end of the massive border complex that left Berlin divided into East and West for 28 years, tearing apart families, friends and neighbours.

Today, Berlin is known as a place of freedom, opportunity and individuality. But that was not always the case. On 13 August 1961, work began on constructing the Berlin Wall. It stood as a symbol of a divided city and country, of terror and the Cold War. Overnight, it changed an entire nation.

For many people, the fall of the Wall on 9 November 1989 was the best day of their lives – the day they regained their freedom through a Peaceful Revolution.

2019 is dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Fall of the Wall and the city of Berlin is celebrating reunification and democracy!

In addition to the national and international celebrations, exhibitions and events that take place throughout the year and beyond, the grand finale is the festival to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall from 4 to 10 November 2019. Berlin will be transformed into a unique open-air exhibition and event venue.

Along the route of the revolution in the city, important events of the history of 1989/90 become comprehensible at seven original locations. At these locations (Alexanderplatz, Gethsemanekirche, Brandenburger Tor, Schlossplatz, Kurfürstendamm, East-Side-Gallery and Stasi headquarters in Lichtenberg) large projections with historical pictures, films and sound installations will be shown.

There are concerts, lectures, readings, contemporary witness talks, poetry slams and film screenings in addition.

This impressive festival will conclude with the evening of 9 November, when the entire city will become the largest concert stage in the world, featuring renowned musicians, orchestras and bands.

Berliners and guests from all over the world are invited to celebrate the festival of freedom peacefully and exuberantly.

More information can be found here or on the website of Kulturprojekte Berlin.

An autumn day in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district in the 1980s. What was the atmosphere like in a divided Berlin? How did day-to-day life look for people behind the Wall? And what was it like living in West and East Berlin?

In the asisi Panorama of a divided Berlin, you can immerse yourself in this panorama installation of daily life and Berlin’s urban feel after the Wall and before reunification.
The panorama presents an impressive atmospheric moment in time which also illustrates the fears and menace of those days.

Even today, the scar left by the former Wall still is a major influence in Berlin. That influence can also be found in the cityscape, where the Berlin Wall Trail and fragments of the Wall testify to the course of the former GDR border to West Berlin.

On this trail, the emotions of those days are still evident. These are places where people cried, bid their farewells, and even where they died – and where people from East and West later fell into each other arms again.

As the main memorial site of German division, the Berlin Wall Memorial’s multimedia exhibition offers a fascinating insight into the construction of the Berlin Wall, life with the Wall, and the Fall of the Wall. Here, you can also find the last section of the Berlin Wall still as originally built.

The Parliament of Trees

This memorial site comprises an installation of trees, parts of the border defence complex and memorial stones for victims of the Wall. The 16 trees in the memorial represent the 16 German federal states and commemorate the events around the Wall.

In this unconventional and poignant garden, 58 pieces of the Wall, some treated artistically, others left as original, recall the dividing line that once ran through the city.

• nineties Berlin – Multimedia Exhibition, Alte Münze, permanent exhibition - This multimedia 270° experience immerses you into life in Berlin directly after the fall of the Wall.
• "And Berlin will always need you", Gropius-Bau, until 16 June 2019 - Taking into account the history of the Gropius-Bau, art, craft and concept Made in Berlin will be presented.
• Ost-Berlin – Die halbe Hauptstadt, Ephraim-Palais, from 11 May 2019 - An exhibition on the history of East Berlin, the capital of the GDR, from the late 1960s until the reunification in 1990.
• „20 aus 20“, Museum Europäischer Kulturen, from 28 June 2019 - 20 objects acquired over the last 20 years – insights when the ethnological collections in the former East and West were merged.
• "Nach dem Mauerfall", Museum in der Kulturbrauerei, until 25 August 2019 - Show of previously unpublished collection of private pictures after the reunification of Daniel Biskup.
• "Durch Mauern gehen", Gropius-Bau, 12 September 2019 until 12 January 2020 - A panorama of artistic actions investigates the consequences of the fall of the Wall and the question of identification.