Berlin barriers

The ravages of time, pollution and vandals threaten the Berlin Wall's artwork, known as the East Side Gallery

Germans battle elements, developers
to save wall artwork as historical canvas

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Sandblast to the past
Difficult to re-create

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From Berlin Bureau Chief Chris Burns

BERLIN (CNN) -- Demands for reform brought down the bulk of the Berlin Wall, but pollution, vandals and developers threaten the few remaining concrete blocks.

Less than a mile remains of the structure that, just more than a decade ago, ran nearly 70 miles long and separated communist East Berlin and West Berlin.

VIDEO Berlin Bureau Chief Chris Burns watches efforts to preserve the art of the Berlin Wall's East Side Gallery Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K    SPECIAL REPORT Cold War: The Berlin Wall    INTERACTIVE How the wall worked Checkpoint Charlie

East German government officials started building the wall in 1961 to keep their citizens from fleeing to the West. For nearly 30 years, they fortified it with trenches, barbed wire, a second wall and armed guards.

In 1989, the communist regime and the wall came tumbling down, precipitating a flood of East Germans heading west. A trickle of artists from around the world took their place, applying a riot of color to the remains of the once grim, gray divider.

The longest surviving stretch of the Berlin Wall -- 1.3 kilometers (0.8 mile) long -- is known as the East Side Gallery.

But the wall and its art are now under threat from Berlin's hot summers and icy winters, pollution, humidity and dust that creeps beneath the paint.

What the elements don't touch, vandals do. And developers, who have long hoped to create a park and a residential complex on the site, are waiting in the wings. They have said their plans include preserving the East Side Gallery, but there is no guarantee.

In the late 1980s, most Berliners couldn't wait to see the hated wall come down. Now some are on a rescue mission to save the barrier as a huge historical canvas.
But there's no agreement on how to approach the preservation task.

Kani Alavi, who heads a group of wall artists, backs a project to save their vanishing work by first erasing it.

This privately funded plan brings sandblasters in to strip some of the decade-old work, exposing the true color of the wall that the communist regime called its anti-fascist protection barrier. Then, artists re-create their work.

"We must paint exactly what we did in 1989," Alavi said. "Otherwise it's not right. If we painted other things, it would no longer be the East Side Gallery."

Finally, the paintings get a layer of anti-graffiti lacquer, so any scrawl could be washed off.

But some think it's a mistake to start from scratch.

"You can't capture the same feeling there was back 10 years [ago], and the art should evolve anyway," said Professor Leon Schmidt, a Cottbus University historian.

Alavi insists he can paint with the same conviction, however. And he also insists that without some kind of protection, it's only a matter of time before the art disappears forever.

The project only has enough money to cover about a quarter of the East Side Gallery. The group hopes to raise more money -- and that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization will name the gallery a World Heritage site to keep it from falling prey to developers.

But for the moment, the biggest threat comes from the silent, steady hands of the elements. It's a race against time to stop them.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.