Giants in Berlin to commemorate fall of the Berlin Wall

September 30, 2:55 PMGermany Travel ExaminerSharon Holton-Schmitt

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Look for tall giants roaming the streets of Berlin over the next few days as the city and its visitors continue the celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall. spielzeit’europa | Berliner Festspiele and the legendary French street theatre company Royal de Luxe will present an open-air theatre spectacle featuring giant figures made of steel and wood.

The giants, Little Giantess and the Big Giant, created by Royal de Luxe, will travel to significant Berlin sites such as such as Unter den Linden, Strasse des 17. Juni, and Brandenburger Tor telling the fairy tale about a reunion after years of separation, resurrecting the emotions of the 1989, in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

When the small giantess travels for 3 days with her boat through central Berlin she is finally reunited with her uncle, the Big Giant, at the Brandenburg Gate. Both have managed to keep strong after decades of separation and the division of their land, which was been torn apart by monsters. The French street theatre company Royal de Luxe tell this story about the division of Berlin and the peaceful revolution of 1989 not as a political story but as a poetic fairytale – “an October fairytale for Berlin” said Brigitte Fuerle, artistic director spielzeit’europa.

Along with the giant fairy tale told as it moves through the streets, an even larger feat lies behind moving the figures. The Big Giant is moved by 30 red liveried Lilliputians (actors) is 15 meters high and weighs 25 tons. The Little Giantess is 7.50 meters tall and weighs a whopping 13.5 tons.

During the 4 day theatrical street production you can follow the giants as they roam the streets to various historical Berlin sites:

• October 1 – Giant surprises wait at Pariser Platz and the Schlossplatz.
• October 2 – The Little Giantess wakes up in front of the Rotes Rathaus and sets off for Bebelplatz. At Gendarmenmarkt the Little Giantess enters her boat and heads towards Lustgarten.
• October 3 – On this day the Big Giant emerges out of the water at Humboldthafen and moves in the direction of  the Tiergarten while the Little Giantess walks along Friedrichstrasse. The Big Giant and the Little Giantess meet again after years of separation on the Day of German Unity at the Brandenburg Gate.
• October 4 – A celebratory parade passes through the government quarter to Moltkebruecke. The Big Giant and the Little Giantess get on a boat at Moltkebruecke and leave Berlin in the direction of the Museumsinsel.

The highlight of the event occurs appropriately on the German national holiday Day of German Unity (Tag der Deutschen Einheit) commemorating the anniversary of German reunification in 1990. An alternative choice for the holiday would have been the day the Berlin Wall came down—November 9, 1989 but that day is also the anniversary of the first large-scale Nazi-led pogroms against Jews in 1938 (Kristallnacht), so that day was considered inappropriate as a national holiday.