The Berlin Wall: A World Divided will be next major exhibit at Union Station
A new exhibit, The Berlin Wall: A World Divided, is scheduled to open at Kansas City’s Union Station this May in time for an influx of visitors for the World Cup. The exhibit tells the story of the greatest symbol of division in the 20th century.
For nearly three decades, the Berlin Wall divided a city. Now, The Berlin Wall. A World Divided, brings its story to life, say organizers. The wall was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating the city from East Berlin and East Germany. It featured guard towers placed along large concrete walls, along with a wide area that contained anti-vehicle trenches, beds of nails and other defenses. The main purpose of the wall was to prevent East German citizens from escaping to the West.
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The exhibit, which for the first time gathers more than 40 lenders from 20 international institutions, highlights the different perspectives and experiences of people living on both sides of the wall through a collection of 200 original objects on public display for the first time in North America. It will be presented by the same company behind the popular Auschwitz exhibit from several years ago, which saw ticket sales top 300,000.
The exhibition will feature:
- An audio guide that provides complementary information offering a global look at the facts of history. It will be available in English and Spanish.
- Divided into four galleries, guests will experience A World Divided; Before the Wall; Division and Living with the Wall; and Global Transformation and the End of the Cold War.
- Several large sections of the Berlin Wall and materials trace its evolution, from early barbed wire to escape-deterrent obstacles such as “Stalin’s lawn,” a spiked metal ground structure.
- Personal belongings of Hiroshima bombing victims, fragments of a spy tunnel and objects reflecting public responses.
Titanic: an Immersive Voyage currently is on display at Union Station The Berlin Wall: A World Divided is scheduled to open in May. For more information, visit www.unionstation.org.
–Anita Widaman
