Location: at the edges of Vatican Gardens
1 segment from Waldemarstraße
Marco Piccini, born in Rome in 1952, comes from a distinguished family of industrialists with good connections to the Vatican. This probably explains why Piccini donated the segment he had purchased at auction in Monte Carlo in 1990 to Pope John Paul II in the very same year. The latter, after all, had a very special connection to the Wall: Pope John Paul II played a decisive role in bringing about the beginning of the end of communist rule in Eastern Europe.
A plaque next to the section quotes from the Polish Pope’s first address following his election, delivered on 22 October 1978: “Do not be afraid! Open, indeed throw wide the gates to Christ! Open the borders of nations, the economic and political systems. Do not be afraid.”
Whilst the section of the Wall in the Vatican Gardens stands as a visible symbol of the overcoming of borders, a smaller piece of the Berlin Wall in the Vatican Radio Historical Museum highlights the power of communication: It symbolises the importance that Vatican Radio held during the division of Germany and indeed of Europe – as a voice that could be heard even behind the Iron Curtain and as a link to people who were separated from their families, their Church and the rest of the world. (Source: Vatikan News)
Piccininni’s gift was unveiled a few years later just outside the Vatican Gardens.
This segment is unlikely to have been particularly cheap in Monte Carlo: it depicts a section of a work by the Iranian artist Yadegar Asisi, who is currently best known for his panoramas.
The construction of the Wall divided the parish of St Michael’s. For the majority of the congregation, their church – now lying on the other side of the Wall – was no longer accessible. The illusionist painting View Through the Wall replaces the actual view from the western part of Berlin towards St Michael’s Church in what is now the district of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, a view that was obstructed by the Wall.
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Photo above and background:
© Roberto Addei, CC BY NC ND 3.0 via Panoramio