The “Longest Open-Air Art Gallery in the World” is wheelchair accessible!

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, 118 artists from 21 countries worldwide were invited to paint murals along this stretch of the Berlin Wall – as a celebration of the end of the division of Germany, and also as a reminder of the inhumanity of the GDR border regime (at least 13 people died in the border area along Mühlenstrasse while trying to flee across the river Spree to West Berlin either shot by East German border guards, or drowned in the Spree).

The East Side Gallery in eastern/central Berlin runs for 1.3km along the pavement of Mühlenstrasse by the river Spree – although the main part of the longest preserved section of the Berlin Wall can be found on Mühlenstrasse between the Ostbahnhof train / S-Bahn / U-Bahn station and Oberbaumbrücke (the Oberbaum Bridge). You simply start at one end, and roll to the other.

And, as Berlin’s East Side Gallery is an outdoor attraction, it is completely wheelchair accessible.

Although the East Side Gallery is always open (it’s actually a public street), it does get busy. Not to the extent that it becomes inaccessible – but crowded pavements can make for VERY slow progress (especially as everyone wants to stop every few meters and take another photograph of the paintings on the Berlin Wall – as you yourself will want to do too of course).

To avoid the worst of the crowds I would recommend getting there early in the day though (alternatively, go very late in the afternoon instead).

The park between the Berlin Wall on Mühlenstrasse and the river Spree is also accessible – but only the paths on the upper section nearer the Berlin Wall (the steps down to the river Spree means that the lower paths are not wheelchair accessible).