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A new gadget has been designed that will allow visitors to Berlin to see the Berlin Wall as it once stood.

The multimedia device – called the MauerGuide, meaning Wall Guide – will be available to rent from 1 May and will let tourists see how the wall looked at a number of prominent points along its former route.

Using satellite navigation technology, the gadget will play sound recordings and show pictures and video footage depicting the wall and exploring its significance.

The launch of the device, which is manufactured by Antenna Audio, is part of a €40m (£32.1 million) plan announced by the Berlin government last year to preserve parts of the wall for their historical importance.

Culture secretary Andre Schmitz said: 'MauerGuide presents a well-documented and customised account of history that is appealing to tourists and fits nicely with our overarching memorial plans for the Berlin Wall.'

The 155-kilometre wall was built in 1961 to stop a mass exodus of citizens from East Germany, which was under communist rule after the Second World War.

It was knocked down in 1989 – a historic moment that preceded the full reunification of Germany – and now only a few kilometres of the structure remain.

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