
Sign up for this plan and take the Metro to visit "The Berlin Wall/A Divided World” exhibition
A 40-square-metre double wall brings the history and the numerous lived experiences of the Cold War to the station entrance that faces Fundación Canal, making it the starting point of one of this season's most important exhibitions: "The Berlin Wall: A Divided World".
If you haven’t visited it yet, we recommend that you do so by Metro to top off your journey through this part of history, where you’ll have the chance to relive what happened in the German capital's underground during the Cold War.
The wall serves as a reminder of the important and multifaceted role the Berlin underground played throughout the Iron Curtain era: from the confrontation in the 1950s between the two world superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, to the subsequent 30 years of division of the German city. In this way, passengers can immerse themselves in the conflict and discover how Berliners used the stations as an escape route, as a refuge from various attacks or as a tool for smuggling contraband.
Given that it had the capacity to connect East and West Berlin, many residents took advantage of the underground system to escape before and after the Wall was built in 1961. The wall also highlights how Berliners used underground stations to protect themselves from nuclear air raids during World War II.
Moreover, it provides a closer look at Berlin's role as a "city of spies,” as it had open borders throughout the 1950s. Using the metro was thus a discreet way for intelligence agents from the warring blocs to camouflage themselves amongst civilians.
The wall also includes stories of Berlin's "ghost stations," underground stops in the East that were on lines used to take passengers from one West Berlin underground station to another, which were closed when the Wall was built. Due to the abrupt closures, these stations have been preserved in their original state from 1961. To this day, they act as "time machines" that let people travel back to that era, just like Metro de Madrid, which has its own Ghost Station that was converted into a museum that transports visitors back to the 1960s.