A piece of the Berlin Wall placed in Brussels

A piece of the Berlin Wall placed in Brussels
Credit: Belga

A piece of the Berlin Wall has been unveiled in Brussels near the Docks shopping centre after it was won in a charity auction by a Belgian company.

Elia, the operator of the high-voltage transmission grid, bought the 3.6-metre high section at a charity auction for the benefit of the Flemish cancer charity Kom op tegen Kanker, which also received a cheque for €55,000 on Monday.

"By acquiring this piece of the Wall, we are taking a small piece of Berlin to Brussels. It symbolizes the special bond we have with the German capital through our partnership with 50Hertz," said Chris Peeters, managing director of Elia. 50Hertz is a German system operator in which Elia has a majority stake.

"Whereas the Wall was a symbol of separation, it is now a symbol for us of unity, working together and looking to the future," said Peeters.

"You can't imagine what this means for us and for the company," said Marc Michils, the managing director of Kom op tegen Kanker, when he received the check for 55,000 euros. He also referred to the symbolism of the demolished Wall. "Kom op tegen Kanker is synonymous with building bridges," he said.

Elia bought the segment at the beginning of the year at the Brussels art and antiques fair BRAFA  Five fragments of the Berlin Wall were auctioned off there. This brought in a total of €326,000 for charities.

In addition to the segment that is now in Brussels, two pieces were installed in Ostend, one in Rotterdam and the last one in the Irish capital, Dublin.

The Brussels Times


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