Besides Berlin, which city auctioned painted Berlin Wall segments in 1990?
Answer
Monte Carlo
Answer
Monte Carlo
Besides Berlin, Monte Carlo auctioned painted segments of the Berlin Wall in 1990.
The sale took place in June 1990 at the Metropole Palace Hotel in Monte Carlo, in the principality of Monaco. Painted sections had quickly become valuable as both historical objects and works of public art, especially after the border opened and the Wall began disappearing from Berlin.
One Monte Carlo auction offered 81 wall pieces, including complete segments and large fragments. Buyers received certificates of authenticity from the East German state-owned company Limex-Bau Import-Export. Proceeds were intended to benefit the health system of the German Democratic Republic, which still existed at the time of the sale.
Monte Carlo was not the only place involved in the commercial afterlife of the Wall: painted sections were also auctioned in Berlin, and pieces were sold, donated or displayed worldwide. The East Side Gallery, by contrast, remained in Berlin as a long memorial and open-air artwork rather than being treated simply as a collection of movable souvenirs. Paris, Zurich and Vienna are associated with Berlin Wall fragments or later exhibitions, but not this 1990 auction named in the question.
Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026