Clocks & Time Representing Peace

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C L O C K

About 1906 - Clock permanently set at 8:00, Union Printers Home, 101 South Union Boulevad, Colorado Springs, Colorado (USA). The International Typographical Union (ITU) built this sanitarium in 1892, won the eight hour day in 1906, and then permanently set the clock on the sanitarium tower at 8:00 o'clock. /// The ITU was the largest & stongest union within the AF of L.

1927 - Peace Tower of Victory & Peace / Tour de la Victoire et de la Paix, Centre Block, Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario (Canada). Usually called simply "The Peace Tower." Sits on the central axis of the Centre Block of the Canadian parliament buildings.

1966 - Floral Clock, International Peace Garden, Dunseith, North Dakota (USA) and Boissevain, Manitoba (Canada). "The large clock received from the Bulova Watch Company in 1966 was a duplicate of the famous Bulova Floral Clock at Berne (Switzerland). It was replaced the summer of 2005 with a new clock of St. Louis, Missouri (USA). The Floral Clock, 18 feet in diameter, is a popular attraction and displays a unique floral design each year. The number of plants on the clock can range from 2,000 to 5,000, depending on the type of plant and design on the face of the clock. Typically the first week in June, 150,000 flowers are planted at the Peace Garden, and best viewed full bloom from mid-July through August. However, the park has its own distinctive beauty all around."

October 28, 1967 - Clock Tower of Peace, Peace Memoial Park (northern end), Hiroshima (Japan). Chimes every day at 8:15 am to plea for "No More Hiroshimas." Constructed by the Hiroshima Rijo Lions Club. #07 of 56 "cenotaphs & monuments" on the Virtual E-Tour.

November 9, 1989 - Berlin Peace Clock, Juwelier Lorenz, Berlin (Germany). Created by Berlin jeweler Jens Lorenz and first set in motion the day the Berlin Wall fell. /// "IAEA Receives Berlin Peace Clock Prize for Contributions to Global Peace, Security Staff Report 15 November 2004 Werner Burkart IAEA Deputy Director General Werner Burkart. (Photo credit: D. Calma/IAEA) * Story Resources * Dr. Burkart´s Statement in Berlin * German Commission for UNESCO * Berlin Committee Prize Announcement * Berlin Peace Clock * Previous IAEA Awards At a ceremony in Germany this month, the IAEA was awarded the Berlin Peace Clock Prize in honour of the Agency´s contributions to global peace and security. IAEA Deputy Director General Werner Burkart accepted the award 8 November on the IAEA´s behalf, describing it as a "great tribute" to the IAEA as the world´s Atoms for Peace organization. The prize was awarded by the Berlin Committee for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Dr. Klaus Hüfner, the Committee´s Chairman, presented the award to Dr. Burkart in Berlin on the eve of an historic day in Germany that marks the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989... "The Berlin Peace Clock is a powerful symbol of the hopes and aspirations of people everywhere," said Dr. Burkart, who heads the IAEA´s Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications. "The IAEA, as an international organization and part of the United Nations family, shares those hopes and will endeavour to repay that trust in the years to come working for a peaceful world.""

2000 - "Timetable," Pacard Electrical Engineering Building, Stanford University, Stanford, California (USA). By Maya Lin. "An impressive sculpture located near the David Packard Electrical Engineering Building. It's the perfect piece of art for engineering students - a huge slab of perfectly sculpted granite that is also a computer-controlled clock. It's called Timetable. Water continually flows over it without a ripple, a peaceful respite for harried students."

August 6, 2001 - Peace Watch Tower, Hiroshimna (Japan). "Displays panels with numbers & cogwheels. Top panel indicates number of days since the A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Lower panel indicates the number of days since the last nuclear test. The museum turned back the lower panel from 506 to 28 on October 13, 2010, the number of days after the USA's subcritical nuclear test on September 15, 2010. "It's a shame that the USA has shown its intention to retain nuclear weapons," said Koichiro Maeda, director of the museum, who pressed the clock's button... The peace clock was reset for the second time since North Korea's nuclear test on May 25, 2009, and for the 13th time since it was installed on August 6, 2001."

2002 - Clock Tower of Peace, War Memorial of Korea (WMK), Seoul (South Korea). "Portrays two young girls holding two watches, one stopped at the moment of separation of the two Koreas and the other moving toward future unification... Reminds us of the familiar icons of peace culture as presented in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki museums in Japan. Despite such a gesture to modify its militaristic and masculine image, the presence of the museum with a message of anticommunism and military patriotism continues to elicit criticism... (The WMK, conceived in 1988 under the Roh Tae Woo government, was opened at the site of the former Korean Army Headquarters in downtown Seoul in 1994. Despite public discomfort over its military appearance, the WMK survived the demise of the military dictatorship and was embraced by the civilian regime headed by President Kim Young Sam as a reminder to Koreans of the ongoing threat posed by North Korea.)"

January 12, 2010 - Bangladesh Peace Clock, Ouellette Avenue median (north of Wyandotte), Windsor, Ontario (Canada). "Made possible by a generous donation of retired Windsor librarian and active campaigner for world peace Mr. A. Aziz Chowdhury... The cost for the project was $60,000, half of which was supplied by the donation from Mr. Chowdhury. Additional donations were graciously made by the clock’s contractors. In keeping with Mr. Chowdhury’s interest in stimulating pedestrian activity in the downtown core, this humble time piece was designed and built at a height that would place it clearly at eye level for people enjoying downtown by foot. The clock is set against a backdrop of three flags, Canada, City of Windsor, and Peace flags."