65 years since the Berlin Wall was built

From August 13 to 16, the Berlin Wall Foundation, in cooperation with Kulturprojekte Berlin, will commemorate the construction of the Berlin Wall 65 years ago with an exhibition, an artistic installation at the Brandenburg Gate, and a free special program.

Many events are planned around August 13 to honor the victims, illustrate history, and convey the value of freedom and democracy.

The main commemorative event will take place on August 13 at 10 a.m. on Bernauer Straße and will be broadcast live to the forecourt of the Chapel of Reconciliation. Guided tours, live readings, music, and creative activities are also planned at several of the foundation’s historic sites. The biographies of the 140 people who lost their lives at the Berlin Wall will be read aloud. Registration is not required for most events (except for the live broadcast of the memorial ceremony and some guided tours).

Exhibition:

Thursday, August 13 – Monday, August 17, 2026

Brandenburg Gate, Platz des 18. März, 10117 Berlin

This open-air exhibition traces the history of Berlin’s division and offers insights into the events of the period from 1961 to 1990. Through texts and large-format photographs from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, it sheds light on the origins, development, and impact of the Berlin Wall, as well as the unique situation at the Brandenburg Gate. The exhibition explores how people in East and West Berlin—as well as visitors to the city—reacted to the border closure and came to live with it over the years.

• More about the exhibition here
• Free special program here

Installation

A spatial intervention spans 30 meters. It references the physical presence of the Wall and confronts visitors with the brutality of the border’s establishment. At the same time, the material’s transparency draws the eye to what lies beyond.

Depending on where you stand in relation to the installation, it becomes transparent. Where there was once no passage, the view opens up into the distance—partly clear, partly blurred. At other times, the installation obscures the view, revealing only a selective, sharply defined field of vision. In this way, moments of separation and encounter become tangible through interaction in public space, and one’s own vantage point—along with the associated perspective—is playfully called into question.

Hubertus Hamm’s installation can be seen for the first time—and for only four days—as part of the special program in Berlin.

Thursday, August 13 – Monday, August 17, 2026

Brandenburg Gate, Platz des 18. März, 10117 Berlin

• More about the installation here