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Peace Monuments Depicting Angels
See below for special section on "SunSweep" by David Barr.
Right click image to enlarge.
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1793 - "Goddess of Peace," Quadriga, Brandenburger Tor / Brandenburg Gate, Berlin (Germany). Interpretation changed after the German victory over France in 1814 when the woman became Victoria, the goddess of Victory by adding a Prussian eagle on an iron cross to her ensemble. Changed again to a symbol of the Third Reich when the Nazis reached power.
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1873 - "Angel of the Waters," Bethesda Fountain, Central Park, New York City, New York (USA). Sculpted by Emma Stebbins [1815-1882], the first woman to receive a commission for a major work of art in New York City. "The definitive crown jewel of Central Park. One of the most famous and universally loved fountains in the world. The only sculpture commissioned as part of the original design of the Park. Symbolizes and celebrates the purifying of the city’s water supply when the Croton Aqueduct opened in 1842 bringing fresh water to all New Yorkers. For this reason she carries a lily, the symbol of purity in one hand while her other hand extends outward as she blesses the water below. The idea comes from the Gospel of Saint John, Chapter 5, the story of an angel bestowing healing powers on the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem. Beneath the eight-foot gilded bronze statue are four smaller four-foot figures symbolizing Temperance, Purity, Health, and Peace."
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1887 - Angel of Peace, Soldiers & Sailors Monument, East Rock, New Haven, Connecticut (USA). A Civil War peace monument.
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May 10, 1896 - Friedensengel / Angel of Peace, Maximilian Park, on opposite side of Luitpoldbrücke over Isar River, Munich, Bavaria (Germany). Commemorates the twenty-five years of peace that followed the war of 1870-71.
Date? - Temple of Peace?, Munich (Germany).
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1905 - Angel of Peace, George Robert White Memorial, Boston, Massachusetts (USA). Sculpted by Daniel Chester French [1850-1931]. George Robert White [1847-1922] was "a well known Boston philanthropist who made his fortune with the Weeks & Potter Drug Company." French created many famous memorials, including the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.
1910 - Angel de la Independencia / Angel of Independence, Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City (Mexico). Commemorates the centennial of the beginning of Mexico's War of Independence [1910-1921]. One of the most recognizable landmarks in Mexico City. A focal point for both celebrations and protests. A lampera votiva / eternal flame (installed in 1929) burns in honor of the principal heroes whose remains are interred within. Base contains bronze sculptures symbolizing Law, War, Justice and Peace. The main face is a bronze statue of a giant lion led by a child representing strength and the innocence of youth during War but docility during Peace.
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October 1911 - Peace Monument to "The Old Guard," 14th Street Entrance, Piedmont Park, Atlanta, Georgia (USA). "Commemorates the historic 'Mission of Peace' to the North in 1879 by the Gate City Guard of Atlanta." Depicts a Civil War soldier lowering his rifle as he hears a call from the Angel of Peace.
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1912 - "Angel of Peace Descending on the Chariot of War," Quadriga, Wellington Arch, Hyde Park Corder, London (England). "By Adrian Jones [1845-1938]. The face of the charioteer leading the quadriga is that of a small boy (actually the son of Lord Michelham, the man who funded the sculpture). The largest bronze sculpture in Europe." Replaced Matthew Cotes Wyatt's gigantic equestrian statue of Wellington that was taken down and not replaced when the arch moved from its first location opposite Apsley House to Hyde Park Corner in 1882-83.
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1912 - Peace Statue, Kings Road, Brighton/Hove (England). Depicts the Angel of Peace. Celebrates King Edward VII [1841-1910] of England after he brought about peace between Argentina and Chile.
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About 1920 -Memorial for Edith Cavell [1865-1915] & Marie Depage [1872-1915], Clinique Edith Cavell / Kliniek Edith Cavell, Edith Cavell Inter-Regional Hospital Centre (CHIREC), rue Edith Cavell 32, Uccle / Ukkel, Brussels (Belgium). Depicts two alegorical figures, one of whom is winged. Erected just after World War I for two female martyrs of the war. Still stands in front the successor institution (lower two images). Click here for more monuments for Edith Cavell.
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1921 - "Victory With Peace" Statue, Freedom Square, Bushwick, Myrtle & Willoughby Avenues, Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York City, New York (USA). Square named in 1919. Monument depicts Nike, the Greek Goddess of Victory, leaning forward with an olive branch, the symbol of peace. Memorializes Brooklyn’s losses during World War I. Sculpted by Pietro Montana [1890-1978]. The face of Nike was modeled after Claudia Deloney, a Hollywood actress and friend of film star Gloria Swanson.
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May 30, 1922 - Murals "Emancipation of a Race" & "Unification," Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC (USA). By Jules Guerin [1866-1946]. Respectively above the texts of the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address.
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1923 - Peace Monument, Capitol Grounds, Columbus, Ohio (USA). Includes two bronze plaques -- one for soldiers and one for those on the home front: "Men win glory in the fierce heat of conflict but the glory of woman is more hardly won. Upon her falls the burden of maintaining the family and the home, nursing the sick and wounded, and restoring the courage of the broken. She endures the suspense of battle without its exaltation. The memorial is erected in grateful tribute to the loyal women of 61-65, without whose help no victory or lasting peace could ever have been won." Image and inscription are from two different web sites. Do they match?
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1924 - Civil War Nurses, M Street & Rhode Island Avenue, Washington, DC (USA). Bas relief flanked by statues of Patriotism (with shield) & Peace (with wings). Sculpted by Irish sculptor Jerome Connor [1874-1943]. Also called 'The Nuns of the Battlefield.' Inscribed, 'They comforted the dying, nursed the wounded, carried hope to the imprisoned, gave in His name a drink of water to the thirsty.' Raised by the Ladies Auxiliary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH), the memorial was originally designed for Arlington Cemetery, until the War Department objected. It was then proposed for location behind the Pan American Union building ... but the Fine Arts Commission objected to that. Finally, Connor downscaled the size of the memorial and got permission to build it at its present site. Then he had to sue the Ancient Order for payment."
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November 11, 1927 - Peace Monument, Battlefield Drive & Granny White Pike, Nashville, Tennessee (USA). Angel of Peace at top. Lower group depicts a youth (the united nation) reigning in two powerful horses (North & South) under a rainbow of peace. Designed by Italian Giuseppe Moretti [1857-1935] most famous for Vulcan in Birmingham, Alabama (1904). Originally dedicated on Armistice Day 1927. Rededicated in 1999 after being moved from original base which was encroached by a modern expressway. The 1927 & 1999 bases are identical with the same three inscriptions: Text #1: "The spirit of youth holds in check the contending forces that struggled here in the fierce Battle of Nashville, December 16th, 1864, sealing forever the bond of union by the blood of our heroic dead of the World War 1917-1918." Text #2 from Ralph Waldo Emerson [1803-1882]: "A monument like this, standing on such memories, having no reference to utilities, becomes a sentiment, a poet, a prophet, an orator, to every passerby." Text #3 is a poem by state librarian John Trotwood Moore [1858-1929]. Entry #934 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001).
Date? - Pax, National Assembly, Paris (France). Dedicated to Aristide Briand [1862-1932], several times prime minister of France, who "received the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize together with Gustav Stresemann of Germany for the Locarno Treaties. (Austen Chamberlain of the UK had won a share of the Peace Prize a year earlier for the same agreement.) A 1927 proposal by Briand and US Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg for a universal pact outlawing war led the following year to the Pact of Paris, aka the Kellogg-Briand Pact."
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1944 or later - Chapel, Luxembourg American Cemetery & Memorial, Hamm (Luxembourg). Three miles east of downtown Luxembourg City. "Au-dessus de la porte de la chapelle, une sculpture haute de 7 mètres représente l'ange de la paix, sa main droite levée en signe de bénédiction, la gauche tenant une branche de laurier. Au sommet, une colombe planant sur un nuage, autre signe de paix."
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1985 - Peace Fountain, Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, Morningside Heights, New York City, New York (USA). By Greg Wyatt, sculptor-in-residence at the Cathedral. "The sculpture depicts the struggle of good and evil, as well as a battle between the Archangel Michael and Satan. The sculpture also contains the Sun, the Moon, and several animals. Although it is called a fountain, there is currently no water on the site." Entry #732 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001).
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1985? - Peace Angel, New York Peace Garden, Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York City, New York (USA). Inscribed "PAX."
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February 16, 1998 - Angel of the North, Gateshead (England). Steel sculpture of an angel, standing 66 feet (20 m) tall, with wings measuring 178 feet (54 m) across — making it wider than the Statue of Liberty's height. Designed by Antony Gormley.