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The Last Of The Berlin Wall Is Getting Needed Facelift
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Published: October 16, 2008
BERLIN - East German leader Erich Honecker proclaimed in 1989 that the Berlin Wall could remain in place for another 100 years. But his faith in East German construction was almost as off the mark as his political instincts. The Wall opened for traffic a few months after Honecker spoke. Now the remaining pieces are crumbling.
On Wednesday, 19 years after the barrier was opened, restoration work began on the longest remaining stretch, which has been ravaged by age and damaged by vandals and trophy hunters chipping off pieces.
The three-quarter-mile stretch, called the East Side Gallery, snakes along the Spree River. In 1990, 118 international artists covered it with elaborate graffiti at the city's invitation.
The approximately $3 million restoration project will remove the original concrete and replace it with better-quality materials and finished with a surface that will better keep the artwork from peeling off.
The Associated Press
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