East Side Gallery

The legendary Berlin Wall's longest intact portion is in Berlin and is known as the East Side Gallery (or ESG for short). It is now a testament to independence with artistic contributions by well-known street artists all around the world, making it one of the main tourist attractions of the city.

This is one of the largest open-air galleries in the world, measuring 1.3 kilometres (almost a mile) in length. However, it formerly helped to segregate East from West Berlin. However, despite its touristy surroundings, the East Side Gallery will always have a certain allure, just ask the typical Berliner.

Driving through after a hard night of clubbing or a city bike tour will always give you a small rush of exhilaration and pride, like witnessing a film strip of history take place. After all, this artefact demonstrates how far Berlin has advanced.

Things to do at the East Side Gallery:

• Learn about the East Side Gallery's past in Berlin:

Many of the paintings feature slogans of optimism and peace as they depict the stormy history of Germany. Numerous souvenirs feature Thierry Noir's vibrant cartoon features, which have come to represent the city. Not just for Berliners but for most of Europe, the fall of the Berlin Wall marked a political and cultural revolution. Artists gathered at this section of the Wall with paint shortly after Berliners swarmed the Wall with hammers to capture the politically charged optimism and defiance of the time in works of art. A large portion of the more than 100 murals you can be see now are dripping with anti-establishment sentiment and incisive criticisms of repressive governments and dishonest politicians. Since significant efforts have been made to conserve and even duplicate some of the Gallery's most renowned works, such as Dmitri Vrubel's so-called Fraternal Kiss and Thierry Noir's cartoon faces, graffiti tagging is strongly frowned upon nowadays but still makes up a sizeable portion of the artwork.

The wall still stretches for a considerable distance along the Spree River between Ostbahnhof (East Train Station) and the magnificent Oberbaumbrücke. The most cherished artworks were conserved and restored for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 2009, and these pieces are still occasionally touched up.

Berlin's grit and guts are embodied at The East Side Gallery: It represents resilience, inventiveness, and hope for both Berliners and the rest of the globe. After 28 years, the Berlin Wall, a dreary and gruesome barrier between people, was ultimately taken down in 1989. Today, its longest remaining section, known as the East Side Gallery, is the largest continuously open-air art gallery in the world. Numerous foreign artists have transformed the optimism and euphoria of the Cold War era into a variety of political declarations, psychedelic-induced meditations, and diverse aesthetic ideas.

• Unwind and relax: 

Better access to the river is made possible by the removed sections, and this area of the riverbank has developed into a charming gathering place with lots of grassy areas for lounging. The Eastern Comfort Hostelboat is also located here, along with a bar and restaurant with a pirate motif.

• Click photographs: 

The East Side Gallery is now frequently surrounded by groups of photographers because the city estimates that over three million people visit it each year. Along the Spree's banks on its backside, carousers sip beer and blast techno music from boomboxes.