Giant Walk-In-Map of Berlin, Germany Ready Soon

With a distance of just 50 metres from the far east of Berlin to the far west - a new art project known as the "Walk-In Berlin Map" will soon allow people to walk across the German capital in just a few steps.
            
Eight Berlin artists have been working on painting the giant map of Berlin on cobblestones in the center of the city since the middle of July. 
           
First an area of 50x50 meters was covered in sand and a layer of tar, making a smooth square.

The four men and four women then went on to recreate the city's buildings, green spaces, waterways and landmarks using paint. 
           
The stencils used for the paintings were made by hand by theater painters and students.

This elaborate work required more than 270 stencils, each one about 3.5 by 1.5 meters in size. 
 
Moritz van Duelman, head of the open-air project, says it's part of the celebrations marking Berlin's 775th birthday.
         
[Moritz van Duelman, Head of "Walk-In Berlin" Art Project ]:
"We are looking at the city as it is today, and that is why we created a big map of Berlin, painting them as we speak here on the castle square. We'll take that as a basis for the exhibition in which we will mark many places with huge oversized safety pins which then will tell us the stories of the locations. But it will be focused always on the people who have influenced this city for almost 800 years. Because the way we can experience this diverse city every day, and that we are one of the hippest cities world-wide, it is only due to the people who have come here for centuries from various cultures and have shaped this city."
          
It also explains some facts about Berlin, focusing on the city's immigrants, for example that  the "Berlin Weisse" (a light beer with a shot of raspberry or other flavorings) was invented in 1818 by the Swiss brew master Daniel Josty.

Or that the first hurdy-gurdy men, called Berlin originals, were Italians who came to the eastern district of Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin in 1870.

The project also explains that Europe's largest pizza baking factory in located in the district of Reinickendorf and belongs to a Bavarian.  
          
Painted on an area of about 25 hundred square meters (27,000 square feet) visitors can stroll through the city which has been downsized to a scale of 1:775.

And van Duelmen assures: "Yes, it will be all walkable." 
           
With the backdrop of Berlin's famous television tower and red town hall, the map will be finished and ready to be walked on at the end of August.