Berlin Statue of Peace Relocated Three Months After Forced Removal

[Financial News] The Statue of Peace in Berlin, which local authorities forcibly removed last year, will be reinstalled at a different location three months after its removal.
Korea Verband, a Korean-German civic group, announced on the 15th that it has retrieved the statue from the Mitte District Office of Berlin, which had been storing it, and will temporarily install it at the Arts and Urban Studies Center for one year starting on the 16th (local time).
The Arts and Urban Studies Center is a non-profit residency and cultural space where artists and urban researchers live and participate in projects focused on urban society. It is located about a three-minute walk from the roadside in central Berlin where the statue stood before its removal.
The center explained, “Unlike at its previous location, the Statue of Peace will not serve as a permanent memorial or fixed monument, but as a space for encounters, listening, and discussion,” adding, “While it is at the center, it will form part of our international residency program.”
The Berlin Statue of Peace was first erected in September 2020. However, the Mitte District Office had been demanding its removal, arguing that the permitted period for installing a temporary artwork under road traffic regulations had expired as of 2024.
After a court rejected Korea Verband’s application for an injunction to suspend the enforcement of the removal order, the Mitte District Office mobilized a private contractor and police officers to forcibly take down the statue on October 17 last year.

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km@fnnews.com Kim Kyung-min Reporter