Part of the Berlin Wall was received by Reykjavík Mayor Dagur B. Eggertsson by Höfði House Saturday, according to a press release form the City of Reykjavík.
This is a gift to the City of Reykjavík from Neu West Berlin Art Gallery in Berlin. October 3, the Day of German Unity, is the national day of Germany, which this year marked the 25th anniversary of German unification in 1990.
Present at the reception were Tim Renner, cultural secretary of Berlin, Herbert Beck, German ambassador to Iceland, representatives of Neu West Berlin Art Gallery, and of Samskip logistics company, which transported the piece to Iceland.
This is a generous gift which is part of global history and loaded with significance. For historical reasons, it’s considered appropriate to place the work by Höfði house, where the summit meeting of US President Ronald Reagan and USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev took place in 1986 —one of the key events to mark the beginning of the end of the Cold War.
The part of the wall in question weighs four tons (2,000 pounds), but similar gifts have been given to a number of cities, including Los Angeles, London and Simi Valley in California.
