A bit of Berlin comes to Christchurch

Christchurch gets parts of the Berlin Wall

Christchurch City Council Development Director Peter Vause (left), Southbase Construction Chief Executive Quin Henderson, SCAPE Public Art Director Deborah McCormick and Cr Vicki Buck with one of the segments of the Berlin Wall gifted to Christchurch.

Christchurch is now the proud owner of two segments of the Berlin Wall.

The segments were gifted to New Zealand by German construction firm EMP Beratungsgesellschaft mbH, who had the job of dismantling the wall that physically and ideologically divided East and West Berlin between 1961 and 1989.

They offered two pieces of the wall to New Zealand after meeting with New Zealand’s Ambassador to Germany Rod Harris.

“The fall of the Berlin Wall was a major event in modern history, not only for Berlin and Germany, but also for Europe and the world. Today, sections of the Wall are on display around the world and stand for the peaceful and successful pursuit of liberty,’’ Mr Harris said.

“I am very grateful that Mr Elmar Prost, a German businessman from Berlin, was so generous in gifting these sections to New Zealand, and that the City of Christchurch seized the opportunity to take two of the few remaining parts of this icon for eventual public display.’’

Cr Phil Clearwater, who chairs the Christchurch City Council’s Social and Development Committee, said it was exciting to be able to add pieces of the Berlin Wall to the city’s public art collection.

“The dismantling of the Berlin Wall was one of the defining moments of the 20th century and we’re very fortunate to have had these sections of the Wall gifted to us.

“They will stand as a reminder of that historic event, just as the Firefighters Memorial made from steel beams salvaged from New York’s World Trade Centre after 9/11 serve as a reminder of that world-changing event,’’ Cr Clearwater said.

Local company Southbase Construction has paid to have the two segments of the Berlin Wall shipped to Christchurch.

They cleared Customs earlier this week and have been put into storage pending a decision being reached on where they will be sited.

“There's a small section of a big part of world history represented in bringing these pieces of the Berlin Wall to Christchurch. Southbase Construction is proud to work on key projects within the Christchurch rebuild programme and this opportunity enabled us to bring something of great meaning to our city.

“Sections, such as these, are on display across the globe and represent the peaceful and successful pursuit of freedom. We are pleased to support this,’’ said Southbase Construction Chief Executive Quin Henderson.

Segment 88 was painted in late 2014 or early 2015 by students of a Berlin-based school for young people with learning disabilities.

Each of the wall segments stands about 3.6 metres tall and weighs about four tonne.

Segment 143 was painted around the same time by a fan of the British TV series Doctor Who and depicts the police box the fictional doctor used to travel through time and space.

SCAPE Public Art worked with the Christchurch City Council to bring the pieces to Christchurch.

“Our role in this project was to work in partnership with the Christchurch City Council to establish the provenance, agree the endowment then manage the procurement and shipping of the two Berlin Wall pieces.

“We have produced public art projects that physically connect other cities around the world to Christchurch. It was rewarding to be able to use that expertise for this particular connection to Germany,’’ said SCAPE Director Deborah McCormick.

© Scoop Media