From the Berlin Wall to the Landwehr Canal

About the walk

You will begin by a painted stretch of the Berlin Wall and follow the Spree toward the brick towers of Oberbaum Bridge. The bridge will take you from Friedrichshain into Kreuzberg, and the route will then run beneath the elevated rail line, along residential streets, past a church, a market, and a club district, all the way to the Landwehr Canal. Along the way, you will notice places where residents changed a building's purpose or defended its right to remain. Why was painted concrete about to be sold off in pieces? Why were badges handed out at the entrance to a party? And how did a protest against selling a market go ahead disguised as a coffee gathering? This will be a calm, concrete story: instead of legends about free Berlin, there will be actual doors, contracts, bans, and decisions. By the end, you will recognize this Berlin through places where the right to stay had to be defended—from a concrete panel to a spot on the dance floor.

Why this order

The route begins on the eastern side of the former wall and follows the old border toward Oberbaum Bridge: after the painted concrete, the river and bridge show how that border worked in the city. On the Kreuzberg bank, the elevated line leads to Burgermeister's pavilion—from a vast border structure to one saved urban building. The residential streets of Wrangelkiez then bring you to Tabor Church, where repurposing a space became a way of helping people. Next comes the market: here, residents defended not one room but the workings of an entire public building. From the market stalls, the route continues to the club door on Oranienstraße, where the community fought for the right to set the rules of its own space. Admiralstraße then leads to the canal. At Admiralbrücke, the same theme reaches an open ending: the roadway was freed from through traffic, and people took it over to meet.