Two giant 12-foot-high concrete slabs, once part of an historic barrier that separated East and West Berlin in Germany for decades, are getting a facelift.
The remnants of the dismantled Berlin Wall in Christchurch's Rauora Park will be repainted with a mural to mark the 35th anniversary of the wall coming down.
The four-tonne sections were gifted to Christchurch in 2016 by the German construction firm tasked with dismantling the wall.
Vicki Buck, a councillor at the time, said the sections were offered to the national museum, Te Papa, which didn't have space for them.
"Taking down that wall in 1989, I remember it clearly, was absolutely powerful. The fact that people had achieved the destruction of a barrier that stopped them doing what they wanted to do was so powerful.
"I think it's amazing that we've been gifted some of these."
In keeping with its history, the Christchurch City Council said it commissions local street artists to regularly refresh the space.
The two pieces - simply dubbed ‘Section 88’ and ‘Section 143’ - once formed part of the infamous wall that ran through the middle of Berlin.
The thawing of the cold war and civil unrest in Germany put pressure on the Soviet-allied East German government to loosen some of its regulations on travel to West Germany.
However, the arrival of the wall remnants in Christchurch divided councillors at the time, over where to install what some described as a "symbol of brutality".
Vicki Buck said to her, the wall involved a sense of inclusion.
"I'm quite sure that the Berlin Wall will evoke different reactions in different people. I think it will mean different things to different people. Some people will like it, some won't."
The city council is working with Fiksate Studio & Gallery, and Watch This Space to commission street artist Trystan Cutts to paint a new artwork on one of the west side concrete slab later this month to mark the 35th anniversary of the Berlin Wall falling.
- By Geoff Sloan, made with the support of NZ On Air
