THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL: WHAT FOLLOWS

     Last week I introduced to you the brief idea of the background history of Berlin Wall, and this week I want to keep track of the wall remains today.

     Sadly enough, the wall remains were not finely reserved and most of them were severely damaged and destroyed. Nonetheless, there were some that survived and made it to now.

     The pictures above were some of the collection in at the East Side Gallery in Berlin, which claimed the longest segment of the Berlin Wall of all, in a total length of 1316 meters. In 2009, the East Side Gallery underwent a top-to-toe renovation, in order to preserve the historic legacy. However, the preservation also had the controversies arise. Some artists' pieces were damaged and then recovered without the artists' permission, which drew a lot of criticism. The picture below was one of them.

     The people in the painting was  Lenoid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker, the former the leader of the Soviet Union and the latter the leader of the East Germany.

     Let aside the controversy, there are still other intriguing facts about the remained segments. Check this link to find all the Berlin Wall sections are currently. Noticed that Taiwan also has one as well? The section lies in the garden of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (財團法人臺灣民主基金會). It was donated to Taiwan in 2009, the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

     There are still other interesting sites that store the remains, such as the Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, the US.

     Or even the oddest, in a men's room in Las Vegas. But don't panic! As the walls are intact and nicely protected by a layer of glass.

     As I once wondered, how come those remains were so seemingly intentionally painted and scattered around the world. The answer lies in a project launched by the Wende Museum in Berlin, which owns most of the segments and store them at the West Side Gallery, which I have mentioned before. The museum gave rise to the wall project, and welcome famed artists from all over the world to paint the walls. The wall project took place in 2009, exactly the twentieth anniversary. Today, we don't need to travel by plane or cost a lot to see one of those remains, thanks to the project we have gained easy access to these memorable legacy.

     The attached video of ABC News recorded the very moment when people who are finally free could cross the borders between the east Germany and the west Germany. Soak in the ecstasy for yourself.

     At last, I would like to show you one of my favourite segments, here it quotes:

For more information, go to:

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/11/08/travel/berlin-wall-locations/

http://www.tfd.org.tw/opencms/chinese/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilshire_Boulevard

http://www.wendemuseum.org/collections/berlin-wall-segments

https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2014-featured-story-archive/a-look-back-25-years-since-the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall.html

The list of the Berlin Wall segments:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Berlin_Wall_segments

The wall project of the Wende Museum:

http://www.wallproject.org/

Attribute to the photographers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Side_Gallery

The East Side Gallery:

http://www.eastsidegallery-berlin.de/data/eng/index-eng.htm

458 words in total