Berliner Bär, Historic monument in Nikolassee, Berlin, Germany

The Berliner Bär is a 1.6-metre bronze figure of a young bear standing on its hind paws with its forepaws stretched forward, made by the Hermann Noack art foundry. It stands on a rectangular plinth fixed to a granite base about 2.4 metres high, whose side facing arriving visitors bears the inscription BERLIN. The sculpture stands in the median of the A 115 motorway near the former Dreilinden checkpoint.

Sculptor Renée Sintenis created the bear figure in 1956 for the Berlinale film festival, building on a version she had modelled in 1932. The larger bronze was cast by the Hermann Noack art foundry and unveiled in 1958 on the A 115 median near the former Dreilinden border crossing, on the occasion of Sintenis's 70th birthday, to welcome guests arriving by car. West Berlin's Senator for Building and Housing, Rolf Schwedler, presided over the ceremony in the presence of the artist.

The bear's pose is deliberate: it faces oncoming traffic, waving with outstretched front paws to greet arrivals, while departing drivers see only its back. The figure derives from Renée Sintenis's 1956 Berlinale bear; since 1960 a smaller gold and silver version of it has been awarded as the festival's film prize.

The bronze bear stands on the median of the A 115 motorway near the former Dreilinden checkpoint, so it can only be seen from a passing vehicle; there is no pedestrian access. Drivers heading into Berlin see the waving front with the inscription BERLIN, while those leaving see its back.

The bear is cast in bronze by the Hermann Noack art foundry, not carved in stone, and stands 1.6 metres tall on a granite pedestal about 2.4 metres high. The pedestal bears the inscription BERLIN on the side facing incoming traffic. The figure waves with raised forepaws toward arriving drivers and turns its back on those leaving the city.