Former Polish leader Lech Walesa is to push the first domino to tip the artistic display. Photo / AP Expand

Former Polish leader Lech Walesa is to push the first domino to tip the artistic display. Photo / AP

BERLIN - Colourful dominoes painted by German students were placed along the former path of the Berlin Wall to mark the 20th anniversary of the opening of the barrier that divided the city for nearly three decades.

Many of the upright 2.3m plastic foam dominoes carried messages, including: "We are one people."

The 1000 dominoes stretching for 1.5km will be toppled tomorrow as part of wider celebrations of the wall's fall.

One labelled "bleeding heart" showed a sword cutting through the city of Berlin, starting a crimson flow of blood speckled with crosses.

"Everyone has walls in their heads to a certain extent," said Berlin resident Stefan Schueler as he studied the domino display. "It's always a good thing if one can break them down, and I think this is a good symbol."

Former Polish leader Lech Walesa, whose pro-democracy movement Solidarity played a key role in ending communism in Eastern Europe, is to tip the first domino as the artistic display comes tumbling down.

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Russian President Dimitry Medvedev also are expected to be on hand for the formal commemorations of the wall's opening on November 9, 1989.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, herself a resident of East Germany when the wall fell, said in her weekly podcast that it was a day that "changed the lives of many people including me".

Researchers estimate 136 people were killed while trying to cross the barrier during its 28-year existence.

- AP