The Berlin Wall has now been down for as long as it stood

The Berlin Wall has now been dismantled for as long as it stood - 28 years, two months and 26 days, or 10,316 days in total.

The infamous wall once divided Berlin, physically and ideologically between the democratic West and the communist East from 13 August 1961, when construction started, to 9 November 1989, when government officials opened it again.

Following a growing number of political demonstrations in East Germany and refugees fleeing the East for the West, it was announced at a press conference that new regulations would allow refugees to exit through direct crossing points, including between East and West Berlin, with immediate effect - although it was originally planned for the following day.

Tagesthemen anchorman Hanns Joachim Friedrichs announced that night: "This 9 November is a historic day. The GDR has announced that, starting immediately, its borders are open to everyone. The gates in the Wall stand open wide."

East Berliners flooded the wall and eventually border guards relented and let them through with little or no checks. They were welcomed with champagne and flowers by West Berliners, who soon jumped on top of the wall and they began dancing all together. Demolition officially began in June 1990, and was completed in 1992.

German newspaper Berliner Zeitung marked the historic day with a front page splash showing the city lights with the caption; "1961 1989 2018." The milestone cover read: "These days are special days and this edition of the Berlin Zeitung is also special. On February 5, this coming Monday, the Wall is gone as long as it stood."

Guy Verhofstadt, president of the ALDE Group and European Parliament member, tweeted: "As of today, the Berlin Wall, which divided our continent for decades, has been down for longer than it was up. Let's keep on tearing down walls and fight for a united Europe." Greenpeace EU said: "The Berlin Wall stood for 10316 days. Today it's been down for 10316 days. Let's work for a world that builds bridges, not walls."

Many people on Twitter began sharing their memories of living with the Berlin Wall, or where they were and how they reacted when it was brought down. Poignantly, the hashtag #ohneMauerfall (without the fall of the wall) was trending on Monday morning, with many Germans recounting how their lives were changed for the better because the Berlin Wall came down. Rob Scriva tweeted: "My wife would still be in East Germany (Berlin) and I doubt I'd have ever met her."

Sabrina Willekens, a German living in Scotland, said: "It seems only yesterday that it came down. Having grown up in its shadow it was a consistent and concrete fact in my childhood. It still feels longer up than gone for me, and probably always will."

Author Eduardo Porter said he found it "weird" that he remembered crossing at Checkpoint Charlie and growing up in the shadow of the Cold War, but that now almost half the world's population was born after the wall came down. Betsy Nagler added it was "hard to believe" because the Cold War was such a big fixture of her childhood.

Mark Toner shared the photo of a piece of the wall he chipped away in 1990, after first going through Checkpoint Charlie eight years earlier. Many sections of the wall can now be seen around the world in locations including London's Imperial War Museum, Brussels' European Parliament and the Seattle Centre.