More than a million Germans and people from around the world on Sunday celebrated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the event that more than any other marked the end of the Cold War.
A spectacular 15-km-long string of 7,000 illuminated helium balloons traced the course of the barrier that once snaked through the city, slicing across streets, between families and even through graveyards.
They were set free one after another into the night sky, symbolizing the breaching of the wall by crowds of protesters in 1989. The Berlin Staatskapelle orchestra played Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" in front of the Brandenburg Gate.