GERMANY: Work begins on part of Berlin Wall to save it from decay

Record ID: 470623

  • Title: GERMANY: Work begins on part of Berlin Wall to save it from decay
  • Date: 16th April 2009
  • Summary: GRAFFITI ON WALL TOURIST TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS OF WALL SOUVENIR SHOP KANI ALAVI OF THE "EAST SIDE GALLERY ARTISTS' ASSOCIATION" LOOKING AT PHOTOGRAPHS OF WALL PAINTINGS (SOUNDBITE) (German) KANI ALAVI, FROM THE EAST SIDE GALLERY ARTISTS' ASSOCIATION, SAYING: "More than 80 artists are willing to cooperate with us and come to Berlin to rescue the East Side Gallery for a small
  • Embargoed: 1st May 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Entertainment,History,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA6YB5YGKBA2B0KAF7N9Q65R720
  • Story Text: Emergency paint restoration work began on murals of the Berlin Wall -- the world's longest open-air art gallery -- on Tuesday (April 14), to save it from decay.
    Most of the 160 kilometre (100 mile)-long wall was torn down after crowds scaled or smashed through it in November 1989 and the East German communist state collapsed.
    But 118 artists from 22 countries flocked to Berlin in 1990 to paint murals on a surviving 1,300-metre (4,300ft) stretch of the once-forbidding concrete barrier.
    Since then, paint has faded, the concrete has been eroded by the elements and some panels have been defaced by graffiti.
    The East Side Gallery Artists' Association has organised the 2.2 million euro (3-million U.S. dollars) restoration and organisers found about 80 percent of the 118 and are trying to reach the rest.
    Built by East Germany's communist authorities who described it as an "anti-fascist protective barrier", the Berlin Wall divided the city for 28 years.
    Scores of people were killed by East German sentries as they tried to escape across it from east to west.
    Many of the East Side Gallery's 106 murals were inspired by the collapse of communism.
    One of the most famous is the "Brotherly Kiss", showing former East German leader Erich Honecker kissing Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
    The gallery was declared a historic monument by the Berlin city government in 1992 and has become one of the city's top tourist attractions.
    Kani Alavi of East Side Gallery Artists' Association said that "more than 80 artists are willing to cooperate with us and come to Berlin to rescue the East Side Gallery for a small fee".
    Organisers hope to complete the restoration work by November 9, 2009 -- the 20th anniversary of the Wall being breached.
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