Graffiti in Berlin

Because of the Wall, which once sported the longest graffiti mural in the world, Berlin is probably the only city that bragged about its graffiti. But this Cold War reputation has sinced mutated into an unfortunately nasty blight across much of the city. Some of it is quite artistic, sometimes it's related to political statements, and sometimes it's just senseless vandalism.

Since the authorities appear to have all but given up on fighting graffiti, I tried to embrace the more artful examples of graffiti. Here's a sampling of the pictures I took in Berlin in February. If you need more, check out this one, or do your own Google search.


"Hesht" shows up a lot in many different forms across town.
I've seen this roller skate done in red, blue, and a special rainbow version near an old section of the Wall. This one was on the locking shutters of a hardware store on Schönhauser Allee.

The subway station nearest to my apartment--an example of tagging, graffiti that's neither artistic nor meaningful (to most viewers, anyway).


An almost blasphemous use of the Ampelmännchen for a political statement against U.S. action in Iraq. Note that "American" was later changed to "US and British". Also near Senefelderplatz.