East Side Gallery, Open-air art gallery on Berlin Wall in Friedrichshain, Germany
The East Side Gallery is an open-air gallery on a preserved section of the Berlin Wall in Friedrichshain, Germany, located directly along the Spree. Over 100 large-scale paintings cover the concrete barrier and stretch from Ostbahnhof station to the Oberbaumbrücke bridge.
After the Wall fell in 1989, artists from 21 countries painted the eastern side of the barrier in 1990 with works documenting the political shift in Europe. The gallery was later placed under monument protection and transferred to a foundation in 2018 to secure its long-term preservation.
Many murals carry dedications to reunification and show symbols such as broken barriers or hands reaching across borders. Visitors pause in front of each work to read the messages left by artists from around the world.
The gallery is accessible around the clock and stands within walking distance from Warschauer Straße and Ostbahnhof stations. Those who wish to see the entire collection should allow about an hour for the walk along the wall.
Some works had to be restored several times after vandalism, with the artists themselves returning to the wall to renew their motifs. These restorations show how living the monument has remained and how much it continues to draw people.
Location: Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg
Inception: 1990
Official opening: 1990
Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible
Address: Mühlenstraße, 13127 Berlin
Opening Hours: 24/7
Phone: +4930213085222
Website: https://stiftung-berliner-mauer.de/de/east-side-gallery
GPS coordinates: 52.50306,13.44472
Latest update: December 4, 2025 23:03
This selection presents wall paintings in cities worldwide. Public art changes urban landscapes through colors and shapes. From social themes to graphic designs, these locations show international street art in alleys, on building walls and public squares.
Urban art transforms global cities into open-air galleries, where walls serve as canvases for artistic expression. From Miami to Berlin, from São Paulo to New Delhi, murals and graffiti redefine public spaces and encourage visitors to explore neighborhoods dedicated to this form of contemporary art. These works, often large-scale, reflect social, political, and cultural concerns while enriching residents' daily lives. In Miami, Wynwood district has established itself as an international reference with 7,500 square meters of walls painted by artists from sixteen countries. Berlin, a city shaped by history, features the East Side Gallery, where 1.3 kilometers of the former Wall display 105 murals by artists from twenty-one countries. In São Paulo, Beco do Batman in Vila Madalena offers a colorful route through alleys filled with evolving artworks. New Delhi also has Lodhi Colony, where large murals by international artists interact with local architecture. These locations allow an understanding of urban art's diversity and vibrancy.
This collection brings together urban locations away from the usual routes, ranging from historic churches and public gardens to libraries, museums, and markets. The selection includes underground salt mines in Poland, converted railway stations in Rotterdam, rooftop gardens in London, abandoned listening stations in Berlin, butterfly gardens in Laos, a transformed bookstore in Buenos Aires, and a canal system running through the old town buildings of Lyon. Some of these places sit in quiet neighborhoods or on city edges, while others hide within busy districts. They show architecture from different centuries, religious sites from various traditions, art projects on former industrial land, and markets that have grown in unusual settings. Some spots offer insight into local ways of life, others tell stories of historical change or artistic experiments. The collection connects places that are often overlooked but worth visiting.
Berlin has reinvented itself several times in its history, and these transformations remain visible across the city today. You can see Prussian palaces like Charlottenburg, the large dome of the parliament building, the Brandenburg Gate, and the museums on Museum Island, where ancient art from different periods is displayed. The memorial church stands next to modern shopping streets, and the television tower at Alexanderplatz marks the skyline above the city center. More recent history shapes the city just as strongly. The Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse recalls the division, while the East Side Gallery along the river shows a painted stretch of the wall. The Holocaust Memorial, the Topography of Terror, and the Stasi Museum document the darkest chapters of the 20th century. The GDR Museum and the Palace of Tears offer a glimpse into daily life in the divided city. Between these serious places you find Tiergarten park, the zoo, and squares like Gendarmenmarkt, where you can simply sit and watch modern Berlin go by.
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