East Side Gallery: the longest surviving stretch of the Wall and its murals

Updated on October 1, 2026

The East Side Gallery runs along Mühlenstraße (10243 Berlin), in the Friedrichshain district, between Ostbahnhof station and the Oberbaumbrücke. At 1,316 metres, it is the longest section of the Berlin Wall still standing, covered with around a hundred murals. Access is free, 24 hours a day; a visitor information point at Mühlenstraße 73 opens daily from 10:00 to 17:00. In 1990, a few months after the fall of the Wall, 118 artists from 21 countries painted the east side of this inner wall, which ran along the Spree. The gallery opened on 28 September 1990 and was listed as a monument shortly afterwards. Since 2018 it has been managed by the Stiftung Berliner Mauer (Berlin Wall Foundation), which also runs the [Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Straße](/fr/attractions/memorial-du-mur-de-berlin).

Highlights

The Wall along its full length

Walk Mühlenstraße from one end to the other, about 20 minutes without stops. The concrete panels, about 3.60 metres high, follow one another without a break; many works deal with the fall of the Wall, reunification and freedom of movement. On the Spree side, the back of the Wall faces the former border strip, now a waterside park.

The Brezhnev-Honecker kiss

The gallery's most photographed work, by Dmitri Vrubel, is called "My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love". It reproduces a 1979 photo of the fraternal kiss between Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German leader Erich Honecker. It is in the western half of the Wall, towards Ostbahnhof; expect a queue of visitors in front of it.

Birgit Kinder's Trabant

Titled "Test the Best", the painting shows a Trabant, the East German people's car, bursting through the Wall, with a "NOV 9-89" number plate, the date the border opened. Other well-known works line the route: Thierry Noir's colourful heads, Kani Alavi's "Es geschah im November" and Gabriel Heimler's "Der Mauerspringer".

The 2009 restoration

Damaged by the weather and graffiti, the paintings were restored in 2009: the concrete was repaired and most of the artists repainted their original work. An open-air exhibition, set up by the foundation in 2022, tells the story of the site: the East German border regime, the creation of the gallery in 1990, then the debates over its protection as new buildings went up.

The visitor information point and the Oberbaumbrücke

The former gatekeeper's lodge at Mühlenstraße 73, renovated and opened in 2025, welcomes visitors daily from 10:00 to 17:00, with toilets. At the eastern end, the Oberbaumbrücke, a neo-Gothic brick bridge completed in 1896, links Friedrichshain with Kreuzberg; the U1 underground line runs on its upper level. Between 1972 and 1989 it was a border crossing for pedestrians.

Infos pratiques

Tips

Come early in the morning to photograph the murals without crowds, especially the Brezhnev-Honecker kiss. Do not sign or tag the paintings: they are protected and cleaned regularly. The Stiftung Berliner Mauer offers guided tours by booking: groups €80 (€50 reduced), €120 (€75) for a tour of 90 minutes or more. Prices checked in October 2026. Round off your visit with the [Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Straße](/fr/attractions/memorial-du-mur-de-berlin) to see the border as it was, and read our guide to [Friedrichshain](/fr/articles/friedrichshain-berlin) to continue the walk.

How to get there

Mühlenstraße, 10243 Berlin (visitor information at no. 73). S+U Warschauer Straße (S3, S5, S7, S75, S9; U1, U3) at the eastern end, near the Oberbaumbrücke; S Ostbahnhof (S3, S5, S7, S9) at the western end. Tram M10 and M13 to Warschauer Straße; buses 300 and 347. Our guide to [public transport in Berlin](/fr/articles/transports-berlin) explains the tickets. The visitor information point is closed from 24 December 2026 to 2 January 2027; the Wall remains accessible.