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We’ve become used to seeing LED lights used for practical purposes more than anything else, and suggesting how a particular spotlight would look great in your kitchen.

We’re delighted to see then, that LEDs have been used for something far more poignant and touching.

Back in 2010, the city of Berlin commissioned the creative director of art agency WHITEvoid, Christopher Bauder, and his brother Marc, to commemorate what would have been the 21^st anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Known as Lichtgrenze – literally Border of Light – the project involved a 26 mile long wall made of 43,100 balloons filled with LED lights.

The long line of glowing balloons would have followed the very same path that the Berlin Wall did from 1961 to 1989.

The installation would have lasted 28 minutes – one minute for every year that the Wall stood. It would have involved the entire community, with volunteers installing the balloons on a set date.

WHITEvoid stated that “in this symbolic ceremony, the ghost of the Wall is present for a short time, then torn down, respecting the past and remembering the joy of freedom.”

Due to unknown reasons, the idea fell through and didn’t take place in 2010 like originally planned. It would take 4 years before the concept finally came to fruition.

For 2 days during the 7^th to the 9^th of November in 2014, 8,000 balloons filled with LED lights ran along part of the course that the old 26 mile barrier stood on, that divided Berlin for nearly 3 decades.

The installation stretched 9.5 miles from Bornholmer Straße to Oberbaumbrücke, visiting the Mauerpark, the Berlin Wall memorial on Bernauer Straße, through the Brandenburg Gate, Potsdamer Platz and onto the Eastside Gallery.

Over 1 million people took part in the event that was even televised on its final day.

The whole occasion was finished off with a concert from the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, capping off a moving and emotional 3 days.