Peace & Freedom

After dining on superb cabbage soup with turkey meat, cornflake-coated fried codfish, and cheese and sun-dried tomato stuffed chicken at Bar Bar, we trekked to two of Prague's alternative sites.

With "Imagine" and "Love's All You Need" cued up one our iPod, we stopped to pause and read the messages for peace and freedom on the John Lennon graffiti wall. Our next mission was visit a few of the controversial sculptures by Czech art David Černý. His most famous act was probably painting a Soviet tank pink- while it was an active war monument. He was briefly arrested for the stunt and the tank was repainted green. Later Parliament repainted the tank pink and moved it to a museum. However, the city is still filled with his unusual sculptures. You might also want to check out his most recent sculpture that has been banned from exhibits.

The sculpture Piss is located in the courtyard of the Franz Kafka museum. The pool the men are peeing into is actually in the shape of the Czech Republic. Their body parts are animated and they "write" words and phrases of peace and freedom. Apparently you can send a text message to a number and the sculptures will "write" your message. Marriage proposal idea - anyone?
The second sculpture, Quo Vadis, is located in the courtyard of the German Embassy. The name means "Where are you going?" and the sculpture premiered on the eve of the joining of the German currencies after reunification.
It is a good thing this sculpture wasn't located in the courtyard of the US Embassy - because then all of about a dozen people would get to enjoy it. Speaking of the US Embassy, we stopped by to check it out since it was down the street from the German Embassy. While it was not barricaded in and the road in front of it rerouted, it did have an interesting feature. If you want to drive on the road past the US Embassy be prepared to stop your car, present identification, open the the trunk and hood for inspection, and have the underneath searched for bombs. I am sure all the neighbors love this - but hey, I guess you don't have to worry much about petty crime.

"Tear down this wall!"

We didn't make it to the Museum of the Wall at Checkpoint Charlie until the second day we were in Berlin, but all over the city the scar left by the wall is evident. A double cobblestone line in the street marks the path of the former wall throughout the city. The wall stood for 28 years and 1 day - a symbol of the Iron Curtain and the literal dividing point between Communism and Democracy. The wall built in 1961 not only separated governments and countries but split families apart, tore people from their jobs, and separated friends.

The Museum of the Wall at Checkpoint Charlie was established in 1962 as a nonviolent protest to the wall. It was built right next the border and contained exhibits on people escaping East Germany. It was a thumb at the Communists right outside their own backyard.Today the museum is a hodge podge of escape tales, facts about the wall, stories of life with the wall, and a chronicle of the USSR. Frankly, the museum is an overload of unorganized information; although bits and pieces are interesting, much of it has nothing to do with the wall. The highlights of the museum are cars altered for escapes, flight contraptions used to fly over the wall, and videos of people tearing down the wall.

The other place in town to experience the wall is the East Side Gallery - a mile long stretch of the wall that is frequently painted by invited artists. Unfortunately, between paintings the wall is heavily graffitied, but they just white-wash it and invite new artist to paint again.

Brandenburg Gate

The Brandenburg Gate has been a symbol of Berlin since it was built in 1791. The gate has been a emblem of Prussian Berlin, the site of Nazi Rallies, a symbol of a divided Berlin, the place of reunification, and, now, a gate into a revitalized eastern Berlin.

The gate was built as just one of fourteen gates to the city. It was designed after the Propylaea Gate in Athens by Carl Gotthard Langhans. The statue on top is of the Goddess of Peace and her four horse chariot.


After the defeat by the Frenach, Napoleon took statue and placed it in the Louvre.

In 1813 the Goddess became the Goddess of Victory as the Prussians took the statue back and returned it to the top of the gate.

The gate become an representation of Nazi Germany during the Berlin Olympics in 1936 when the gate was draped in Nazi banners.

Destroyed by bombing, the gate laid in ruins after WWII.

After the war the east and west together restored the gate. It was used by cars and pedestrians until the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961, when it became part of "no man's land". When JFK gave his "I am a Berliner" speech at the gate in 1963 the Soviets hung banners from the gate so he could not see into East Germany. It remained unused until the fall of the Berlin Wall.

In July 1987 speech at Brandenburg Gate, Ronald Reagan spoke to the people and demanded:

"General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

Two and half years later they did just that. The gate became a symbol of reunification on November 9, 1989 when 100s of Berliners packed the gate and surrounding squares in celebration. The Bandenburg Gate was officially reopened on December 22, 1989 when the West German Chancellor and the East German Prime Minister met under the gate

Once again a US President spoke at the gate, when Bill Clinton came to Germany to speak about post-cold war peace and said:

"We stand together where Europe's heart was cut in half and we celebrate unity."


The Brandenburg Gate has become one of the most recognized symbols of Berlin and of Germany - reminding all who walk through her of the struggles and events of the past, present, and future. You can't help but marvel at the struggles of freedom the gate has seen.