Editing Brandenburg Gate (section)

===Post-1989===
[[File:West and East Germans at the Brandenburg Gate in 1989.jpg|thumb|The Berlin Wall in front of the gate, shortly before its [[Fall of the Berlin Wall|fall in 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 Gate border crossing was reopened when [[Helmut Kohl]], the West German chancellor, walked through to be greeted by [[Hans Modrow]], the East German prime minister. Demolition of the rest of the wall around the area took place the following year. In 1990, the quadriga was removed from the gate as part of renovation work carried out by the East German authorities following the fall of the wall in November 1989. Germany was [[German reunification|officially reunified]] in October 1990.

The Brandenburg Gate was privately refurbished on 21 December 2000, at a cost of €6 million. It was once again opened on 3 October 2002 following extensive refurbishment, for the 12th anniversary of German reunification. On this occasion, the Berlin office of Kardorff Ingenieure developed a new lighting concept that emphasises the gate as the most important building on the Pariser Platz.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Berlin: Generalprobe am Reißverschluss |language=de-DE |work=Der Tagesspiegel Online |url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/generalprobe-am-reissverschluss-933370.html |access-date=2024-01-04 |issn=1865-2263}}</ref>

The Brandenburg Gate became the main venue for the 20th-anniversary celebrations of the [[fall of the Berlin Wall]] or "Festival of Freedom" on the evening of 9 November 2009. The high point of the celebrations was when over 1000 colourfully designed foam domino tiles, each over {{convert|2.5|m}} tall, were lined up along the route of the former wall through the city centre. The domino "wall" was then toppled in stages converging here.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mauerfall09.de|title=20 Jahre Mauerfall|access-date=9 April 2009 | year=2009| publisher=Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH|language=de}}</ref>

The Brandenburg Gate is now again closed to vehicle traffic, and much of the Pariser Platz has been turned into a [[cobblestone]] [[pedestrian zone]]. The gate, along with the broad [[Straße des 17. Juni]] avenue to the west, is also one of the large public areas in Berlin where over a million people can gather to watch stage shows or party together, watch major sport events shown on huge screens, or see fireworks at midnight on New Year's Eve.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.morgenpost.de/berlin-aktuell/article112322858/Berlin-feiert-am-Brandenburger-Tor-ins-neue-Jahr-2013.html |title=Berlin feiert am Brandenburger Tor ins neue Jahr 2013 (in German) |publisher=Berliner Morgenpost |date=4 March 2007}}</ref> After winning the [[2014 FIFA World Cup]], the [[Germany national football team]] held their victory rally in front of the gate.

It has also hosted street events at [[2009 IAAF World Championships in Athletics]] and repeated its role in [[2018 European Athletics Championships]]. It is also the usual finish line of the [[Berlin Marathon]].

<gallery mode="packed" heights="180">
File:Durchgangsverkehr durch das Brandenburger Tor.JPG|Traffic through the gate in the 1990s
File:2005-10-26 Brandenburger-Tor.JPG|With the Pariser Platz in 2005, following restoration and pedestrianization
File:View of Brandenburger Tor from the Reichstag roof terrace, Berlin, 2017.jpg|Seen from the rooftop terrace of the [[Reichstag building]]
</gallery>