The Concrete Canvas

Today was a time to say goodbye to one city and hello to another. The first portion of our journey can be checked off, and we had a wonderful stay in the great harbor city of Hamburg. Berlin was the next stop. Like Hamburg, Berlin is definitely its own type of city, filled with uniqueness (and people… lots of people). In the early evening, Mrs. Paige and Myers took us for a stroll to the East Side Gallery of the Berlin Wall. What a beautiful sight to see and place our hands on. Myers gave us a quick history lesson on the Wall of Berlin. It was built in the middle of the night in 1961 and it circled the area of West Berlin. It eventually got to a point where the government of East Germany set up areas of sand, watch towers, and brutal security methods all along their side of the wall to ensure no one snuck into West Berlin from the outside. In 1989, the wall came down. Still standing today is a strip of the wall, which has been made into a mural gallery along the eastern side.

The eastern side of the wall was graced with beautiful abstract paintings, each section having its own depiction. The drawings were all so different and special. Each artist’s section had a deep story or meaning. The reason behind the colorful qualities of the depictions was due to a reunion of the original artists of the East Side Gallery, who were invited to repaint their designs over their originals. These pieces of art portrayed a sense of unity and peaceful free speech. Just on the other side, the graffiti-coated artwork of the western face of the wall was not as much of a gallery. This side was either covered in spray paint, or just plain white. To me, it symbolized the dryness of an era and a country divided. Nonetheless, the wall was history. It will never be forgotten, with the residue of communism (figuratively) written all over it. Fortunately, the historic wall only stands as a gallery of art today, and no longer stands for its original purpose.