Peace Arches Around the World

Right click image to enlarge.

1793 - "Goddess of Peace," Brandenburger Tor / Brandenburg Gate, Berlin (Germany). "In 1806 Napoleon marched triumphantly into Berlin and carried the Quadriga away with him to Paris as a spoil of war. In 1814, after the victorious conclusion of the wars of liberation, Schinkel replaced the oak wreath on the goddess' scepter with an iron cross, changing the figure's interpretation from a courier of peace into a goddess of victory."

September 10, 1838 - Arco della Pace / Arch of Peace, Parco Sempione, Milan (Italy). Inaugurated by the Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria.

October 16, 1896 - Civil War Correspondents Memorial Arch, Gathland State Park, Crampton's Gap, Burkittsville, Maryland (USA). Built by George Alfred Townsend [1841-1914] who had been the youngest war correspondent of the Civil War.

1912 - "Goddess of Peace," Wellington Arch, London, England (UK). "The original statue was replaced, in 1912, by a huge bronze quadriga designed by Adrian Jones [1845-1938]. It is based on a smaller original which caught the eye of Edward VII at a Royal Academy exhibition. The sculpture depicts the angel of peace descending on the chariot of war. 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 statue is the largest bronze sculpture in Europe."

1920 - Peace Arch, Jackson Street, Petone, Lower Hutt, near Wellington (New Zealand). This arch is similar to arches which were apparently constructred in many different countries at the end of WW-I. Note light bulbs and flags of allied nations afixed to the arch.

September 6, 1921 - International Peace Arch, Peace Arch Park, US/Canadian Border, Blaine, Washington (USA), & Douglas, British Columbia (Canada). Commemorates the centennial of the Treaty of Ghent which ended the War of 1812 between the US & Great Britain. Click here for the Wikipedia article. Entry #1211 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001).

Date? - Peace Arch, Peace Arch Park, US/Canadian border. What is this? Added to the park after 2000?

1921 - Peace Memorial School, 85 East 36th Street, Hamilton, Ontario (Canada). Only the portico (in the shape of a triumphal or memorial arch) was preserved when the 84-year old school was demolished in the Summer of 2005. The site is now called Peace Memorial Park and is under development.

A R C H

1951 - Berlin Airlift Memorial, Platz der Luftbrücke, Tempelhof Airport, Berlin (Germany). Three arching “prongs” represent the three official air corridors (Luftkorridore) used on flights between West Berlin and West Germany. Displays the names of the 39 British and 31 American airmen who lost their lives during the operation. A matching monument stands at the other end of the “air bridge” at the Rhein-Main air base in Frankfurt, completing the airlift arch.

1951 - Berlin Airlift Memorial, Frankfurt (Germany). "Though Rhein-Main Air Base is now closed, this memorial to the Berlin Airlift is still clearly visible from the A5 Autobahn which runs alongside the Frankfurt Airport."

August 6, 1952 - Cenotaph for the A-Bomb Victims, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Hiroshima (Japan). Inscribed "Let all the souls here rest in peace, for we shall not repeat the evil." "The stone chest in the center holds the registry of the names of persons who died from the bombing, regardless of nationality. As of August 6, 2001, the registry comprises 77 volumes that list a total of 221,893 names." #20 of 56 "cenotaphs & monuments" on the Virtual E-Tour.

1957? - Freedom & Justice Monument, Liberation Square, Accra (Ghana). Also known as Independence Arch & Black Star Monument.

July 24, 1967 - Gateway Arch, Mississippi Riverfront, St. Louis, Missouri (USA). Also known as the Gateway to the West, is an integral part of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial and the iconic image of St. Louis. Designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen [1910-1961] and German-American structural engineer Hannskarl Bandel [1925-1993] in 1947. Stands 630 feet (192 m) tall, and is 630 feet (192 m) wide at its base, making it the tallest monument in the USA."

1981? - Victory Memorial & Tomb of Anwar Sadat, Medinet Nasr, near Cairo (Eqypt). Pyramid-shaped memorial commemorates the War of October 1973. Sadat's tomb is under the memorial. Anwar al-Sadat [1918-1981] received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978. The nearby October War Panorama (right image) was built on a suggestion made to Hosni Mubarak by Kim Il Sung of North Korea when the Egyptian president visited that country in 1983.

1984 - Friendship Arch, Kiev (Ukraine). Locally called "The Yoke," the arch is 50 meters across and leads to a view of the Dnieper River. Bronz and granite statues under the arch. Erected on the 325th anniversary of the Treaty of Pereiaslav, which tied the Ukraine to Russia.

Date? - Gateway of No Return, Ouidah (Benin). "A massive, arched gateway, some 50 feet high, stands alone on the edge of one of the loveliest beaches in West Africa. It is a striking - and in many ways a beautiful - structure, facing out across the Atlantic Ocean towards South America. Yet it is also bleak beyond words. Etched across the top of the arch are two long lines of naked, chained men disappearing into the sea."

1986 - Friendship Gate, Chinatown, H Street at 7th Street, NW, Washington, DC (USA). Gift from Beijing (China) to its sister city Washington, DC. Said to be the largest gate of its type in the world.

1986 - Peace Farm, Amarillo, Texas (USA). Twenty acres of land on the southern boundary of the Pantex Plant. "Established as an information source about the Pantex Plant and to stand as a visible witness against the weapons of mass destruction being assembled there." When visited in September 2009, four arches (of which two seen in image) remained, but the encircled Madre Sculpture (also seen in image) had been removed.

1988 - The Arch, New Harmony, Indiana (USA) . Coil-built stoneware arch in front of the Roofless Church. Executed in 1971 by East Coast artist Bruno La Verdiere & installed in New Harmony in 1988. It was moved to its current location in 1993. The inscription at the base of the sculpture reads: "This gateway is for all the innocent victims of war and oppression throughout the ages and particularly for all the young who died too soon in this century." /// On-line caption for left image is "Bruno La Verdiere, Arch, 1970, 8 ft." (location unknown).

1992 - Memorial Arch, Peace Park, Eau Claire Promenade, Prince's Island Park, 2 Avenue & 8 Street SW, Calgary, Alberta (Canada). "In 1992 the park was dedicated as part of a Canada 125 project to commemorate Canada's peacekeepers (one of 250 peace parks that opened throughout Canada that year). Memorial Arch acts as a memorial to the soldiers who died in World War 1, 2 and the Korean War. Originally, the Arch was part of the Strathcona Building built during WW1. The Arch was salvaged when the building was demolished and spent several years in City storage before it was erected at the Bridgeland LRT station in 1985. It was dismantled block by block and reconstructed in Peace Park in 1992." Twelve elm trees arranged in a circle, an ancient Bosco Sacro design that represents peace, were also planted in the park.

1992 - Monument de la Paix / Peace Monument, Central City, Bamako (Mali). Arch is two arms supporting a sphere (the earth?) topped with a dove of peace. Photo by Lowell & Marge Owens.

2000 - Monument de la Paix / Peace Monument, Timbuktu (Mali). Steps to the monument are covered with welded small arms laid down by warring factions.

Date? - Dove of Peace, Outskirts, La Paz, Baja California Sur (Mexico). "A peace dove or a whales tail, this monument greets you as you enter La Paz." La Paz means peace in Spanish.

Date? - Arco Iris por la Paz / Rainbow for Peace, near Visma, La Coruńa, Galicia (Spain). Honors the victims of terrorism. "This is the actual title of the sculpture. Undoubtedly, at the appropriate point. A beautiful place."

Date? - "Window to the Ocean," near Visma, La Coruńa, Galicia (Spain).

1999 - Freedman's Memorial Arch, Freedman's Memorial Cemetery, Central Expressway & Lemmon Avenue, Dallas, Texas (USA). "$2 million monument to Freedman's Town, where freed slaves settled after the Civil War. Its cemetery had disappeared beneath white urban expansion in the 1950's. After utility crews rediscovered the site of an estimated 4,500 graves in 1987, the state began a partial re-interment and started building the memorial...The monument is truly multicultural. Artist David Newton created the bronze sculptures outside the entry, marked with granite arches and an iron gate. Poems are etched into a sunken circle at the memorial's center, and essays by Dallas schoolchildren grace the gate's outside pillars." /// This is "Monday's Monument" #124.

Date? - Friendship Gate, Torugart Pass, Border between Naryn Province (Kyrgyzstan) & Xinjiang Autonomous Region (China). Gate demolished in 2002?

September 2002 - Friendship Gate, between Chaman (Pakistan) & Spin Boldak (Afghanistan). "Two large ochre arches covered in blue tiles, overlooking scores of ramshackle Afghan and Pakistani traders' stalls in a one-kilometer no-man's land....completed in September, but its official inauguration has been postponed back several times. Shah blames the Kabul administration. 'The local Afghan authorities want this,' he said, 'but it's the people in Kabul who are making problems.'" "One of nearly 1,000 posts on the Afghan-Pakistani border. At night, the border is largely unguarded, allowing Taliban fighters, weapons, and drugs to pass through."

2006 - International Peace Garden, Coral Springs Museum of Art, Coral Springs, Florida (USA). Left image shows the Peter King "Gateway to Peace."

September 2008 - Arch of Dignity, Equality & Justice (César Chávez Monument), California State University, Paseo de César E. Chávez, San Jose, California (USA). By Judy Baca. "Dedicated César E. Chávez [1927-1993]. . A testament to his struggles and achievements and an inspiration to others to follow a life of service."

June 25, 2009 - Peace Bell, Nicholas Roerich Museum, Novosibirsk, Siberia (Russia). "Reminds the humanity about their unity and inspires them to maintain peace on the Planet and protect the unique beauty of the Earth. Peace Bell symbolizes universality, solidarity, harmony and constructive endeavors of people of the whole world. Besides it fosters people to actively participate in preservation of nature, life, and culture heritage on our Planet... In Russia this tradition has been promoted and patronized since 1998 by Anatoly Nikolayevich Berezovoi, Soviet Cosmonaut, Hero of the Soviet Union [sic]." Information courtesy of Ekaterina Gracheva.