Today, Potsdamer Platz symbolises new beginnings, modernity and architecture of the highest order. Yet if you look closely, you can still spot traces of a different era amongst the glass skyscrapers and bustling squares: the remains of the Berlin Wall. From 13 August 1961 until 9 November 1989, the Wall ran right here — between Potsdamer Platz and Leipziger Platz. What was once the heart of Berlin was transformed by the concrete curtain into a desolate wasteland that belonged to no man’s land for decades.

The last original sections of the Wall, which stood directly on Stresemannstraße, were demolished in 2008. Six of these sections were subsequently re-erected in front of the entrance to Potsdamer Platz station, serving as a tangible reminder of the division, right in the heart of the city’s everyday life.

Photo credits: Marie Bellando via unsplash