'Open This Gate'

Drawn to the city’s historic Brandenburg Gate as word spread on the night of Nov. 9, 1989, both East and West Berliners clambered up the wall and crowded Pariser Platz to take part in the opening. Two years earlier at this spot, Ronald Reagan had implored Mikhail Gorbachev in a speech to “open this gate,” to “tear down this wall.”

Today, the entire area around the 18th century landmark gate, just south of the Reichstag building where the German parliament meets, is a pedestrian plaza. The Quadriga -- the bronze sculpture atop the Brandenburg Gate -- depicts a chariot drawn by four horses and driven by Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory. The horses face east.