Brandenburg Gate August 1961. West Berliners gathered on the western side of the gate to demonstrate against the Berlin Wall, among them West Berlin's governing Mayor Willy Brandt, who had spontaneously returned from a federal election campaigning tour in West Germany earlier on the same day. It was closed throughout the Berlin Wall period until 22 December 1989. When the Revolutions of 1989 occurred and the wall was demolished, the gate symbolized freedom and the desire to unify the city of Berlin. Thousands of people gathered at the wall to celebrate its fall on 9 November 1989. On 22 December 1989, the
Brandenburg City Canal Brandenburg City Canal The Brandenburg City Canal, or Brandenburger Stadtkanal in German, is a canal in the German state of Brandenburg. It provides a route through the centre of the city of Brandenburg an der Havel. At its upstream end, the canal diverges from the River Havel upstream of the "Vorstadtschleuse Brandenburg" lock. It then passes through the city centre, before descending through the "Stadtschleuse Brandenburg" lock into a lower level of the River Havel, here known as the "Brandenburger Niederhavel". Traffic from the canal then follows the "Brandenburger Niederhavel" downstream. The Brandenburg City Canal is now largely used by