Peace Flames & Beacons Around the World

See below for special section on World Peace Flame.
Click here for website about eternal flames. Click here for Ask.com article on eternal flames.

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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.

1938 - Monument a la gloire des Americains / Monument to the Glory of the Americans, Point-de-Grave, Mouth of Gironde River (France). Expressed gratitude for US help during World War I. 75 meters tall (vs. 45.5 m for the Statue of Liberty). Dedication attended by John F. Kennedy (representing his father, US Ambassador to UK). Destroyed by Germans May 30, 1942. A large but much smaller stele / plaque was erected in 1947 to mark the spot. It says in English: "They Have Destroyed It; We Shall Restore It."

July 3, 1938 - Peace Light Memorial, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (USA). Dedicated [right image] by President Franklin Deleno Roosevelt on 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg in presence of about 1,800 elderly veterans from both sides of the Civil War. Also known as Eternal Light Peace Memorial. Vandalized in January 2009.

January 31, 1948 - Raj Ghat, New Delhi (India). Where Gandhi's body was cremated, and a shrine ever since. A commemorative ceremony takes place every Friday. Remembrance prayers are held on anniversaries of Gandhi's Birth ( October 2) & Death (January30). The latter is called Martyr's Day. Gandhi's ashes were sent to the Ganges, other sites in India, the Nile (Uganda) & Pacific Palisades, California (USA).

November 1951 - Peace Candle, Centre Square, Easton, Pennsylvania (USA). "A tower-like structure erected every Christmas season. The approximately 106-foot (32 m) tall structure, which resembles a giant candle, is assembled each year over the Soldiers' & Sailors' Monument. It is typically assembled the day after Thanksgiving & disassembled in early February each year." /// "After the frenzy of the first official day of holiday shopping dies down, hundreds gather in Centre Square to watch the lighting of Easton's iconic holiday symbol: the Peace Candle. “It’s a magical moment. Everyone counts down,” said Easton Holiday Committee member Sandra O'Brien-Werner. “It's a real community tradition and something people look forward to each year." The city will celebrate the Peace Candle's 60th anniversary Friday with a full slate of events starting at 5 p.m. The events include the announcement of the annual Gretchen Wrenshaw Community Caring Award and the candle lighting at 7 p.m. City workers, members of Ironworkers Local 36 and a crew from Nazareth-based Beatty Contractors worked last week to hoist the candle around the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. Rick Beatty, who co-owns Beatty Contractors with his brother, Russ, said the company became involved in the project about 30 years ago. Their late father, Stewart Beatty, thought it would help the community. Easton's Peace Candle has been around for 60 years, and... I hope it's around for 60 more. I hope this is its last. VoteView Results Share This Quantcast The company offers its crane and services each year at a reduced rate, Rick Beatty said. Putting up the candle can prove difficult in unpleasant weather, crews said, but noted last week’s temperatures in the 60s were ideal. Rick Beatty said in past years high winds were challenging. One year, he said, they removed the candle in January with two inches of ice on it. The holiday committee raises upwards of $10,000 each year to stage the Peace Candle lighting, O'Brien-Werner said. The committee works with the Main Street program to put on activities throughout the evening. Santa Claus and the Uptown String Mummers Band are to start the celebration, and children can have their photograph taken with Santa at Third Street Alliance. Main Street assistant Manager Megan McBride said a documentary highlighting the history of the Peace Candle's 60 years will be shown at the Sigal Museum throughout the evening. Also on tap will be horse-drawn carriage rides, a petting zoo, crafts, live music and performances by the Easton Area High School Brass Ensemble, Easton Municipal Band, Greater Shiloh Church Choir and Easton Area High School String Ensemble & Chamber Singers. The public is invited to close the evening with a carol sing-along walk to Easton's riverfront and evergreen at Scott Park. New this year will be children from Cops 'n' Kids placing hand-made ornaments on the tree, which symbolizes Easton's claim it had the first American Christmas tree."

1960 - John F. Kennedy Torch of Friendship, Bayfront Park, Miami, Florida (USA). Contains seals of Latin American countries. "In 1960, the Torch of Friendship monument in Miami was built to signify the passageway for all of Florida’s friends coming from Latin America & the Caribbean. The gas fed flame was meant to act as a welcoming beacon for all new and old immigrants to the nation. [In 1964] it was re-dedicated to the memory of John F. Kennedy Jr. The burning torch sitting 18 feet above Biscayne Boulevard was then said to be an extension of the burning candle then burning at the fallen president’s gravesite in Arlington. Now days, the candle just doesn’t burn at all! Some say its Miami’s way of expressing disgust with the war going on overseas in Iraq and Iran.

F L A M E

1961 - Eternal Flame, Hall of Remembrance (Ohel Jiskor), Yad Vashem, Jerusalem (Israel). Architect: Aryeh Elhanani Eternal Flame: Kosso Eloul. Southern gate: David Palombo. Western gate: Bezalel Schatz. "Continuously illuminates the Hall from a base fashioned like a broken bronze goblet, its smoke exiting the building through an opening at the highest point of the ceiling. Before it stands a stone crypt containing the ashes of Holocaust victims, brought to Israel from the extermination camps... The hall has walls made of basalt boulders brought from the area surrounding the Sea of Galilee, an angular roof that gives it a tent-like shape and engraved on the mosaic floor the names of 22 of the most infamous Nazi murder sites."

November 25, 1963 - John F. Kennedy Eternal Flame, Grave of President John F. Kennedy, Arlington Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia (USA). A temporary eternal flame was used during President Kennedy's funeral on November 25, 1963. The permanent flame was consecrated and opened to the public on March 15, 1967.

August 1, 1964 - Flame of Peace, Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Hiroshima (Japan). Eternal flame designed by Kenzo Tange. Pedestal suggests the shape of a pair of hands with open palms. The flame Has burned continuously since 1964 and "will remain lit until all nuclear bombs on the planet are destroyed and the planet is free from the threat of nuclear annihilation."

July 4, 1966 - Yad Kennedy, John F. Kennedy Peace Forest, near Moshav Aminadav, Jerusalem (Israel). On one of the highest hills on the southwestern outskirts of Jerusalem, Israel, is a memorial to John F. Kennedy, President of the United States. At the southwest outskirts of Jerusalem is Yad Kennedy, reached by following the winding mountain roads past Aminadav Moshav. On top of an 825 m. high mountain is a monument in the shape of a cut tree trunk, symbolizing a life cut short. 51 columns, each bearing the emblem of a state of the Union, plus the District of Columbia, encircle the mountain top memorial. An eternal flame burns in the very centre. The site was opened in 1966 with funds donated by Jewish communities in the USA. The monument and adjoining picnic grounds are part of the John F. Kennedy Peace Forest. Chief Justice Earl Warren arrived for the dedication July 4 of a peace forest and memorial to President Kennedy. Warren chaired the Warren Commission, which was formed to investigate the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

1967 - Centennial Flame, Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Ontario (Canada). "I never feel more Canadian than when I am on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, the seat of government in Canada. I knew that the cold air above the propane-heated air above the Peace Flame would cause the image behind it to shimmer."

1968 - Tsitsernakapert Erevan / Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial, Yerevan (Armenia). "44 meter stele symbolizing the national rebirth of Armenians. 12 slabs are positioned in a circle, representing the 12 lost provinces in present day Turkey. In the center of the circle, at a depth of 1.5 meters, there is an eternal flame." "Sits on the site of a Iron Age fortress, all above-ground trace of which seems to have disappeared." Ceremony marking 95th anniversry of the genocide took place here on April 23, 2010 (right image)."

1968 - Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia (USA). Includes King's tomb (in lake in photo), an eternal flame, Rosa Parks room, and Mahatma Gandhi room. Click here for additional information. Entry #242 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001). (Martin Luther King, Jr. received the Nobel Peace

1969 - "The Sphere" (World Peace Monument), Battery Park, New York City, New York (USA). Designed by Fritz Koenig of Germany. Commissioned by Port Authority of New York & New Jersey to symbolize world peace through world trade. Stood in the plaza between the two World Trade Center (WTC) towers. Damaged on September 11, 2001. Left unrepaired & moved to Battery Park as a memorial to victims of 9/11. September 11, 2002, "Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined Afghan President Hamid Karzai & officials from about 90 foreign nations at its base to light an eternal flame. Nearly a decade later, the flame could possibly be snuffed out, and there is no permanent plan for the 25-foot-high structure made of bronze & steel. Officials said [in early April 2012] that it will be removed by the end of the month to make way for renovations to Battery Park. Some family members of those killed have gathered thousands of signatures in an online petition urging officials to incorporate the sculpture into the 9/11 memorial & return it to the spot where it once stood as a centerpiece of a 5-acre plaza."

M U S E U M

1972? - James F. Corn Interpretive Center, Red Clay State Historic Park, 1140 Red Clay Park Road SW, Bradley County, Tennessee (USA). Near the Georgia state line about 17 miles SE of Chattanooga. "Site of the last seat of Cherokee government before removal to Oklahoma in 1838... Features exhibits about 19th century Cherokee culture, government, economy, recreation, religion and history. A series of stained glass windows depicts the forced removal of the Cherokee and subsequent Trail of Tears emigration. Outside there is a replica of a Cherokee farmstead, a Council House," and the "Eternal Flame of the Cherokee Nation" [in image]. Named for author James F. Corn [1894-1989].

October 1984 - Peace Garden, Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto, Ontario (Canada). Created for Toronto's sesquicentennial. "Measures 60 square metres and consists of a small sculptured structure, an eternal flame, a pool and stone platforms and wall. In September 1984, His Holiness Pope John Paul II lit the Eternal Flame of Peace using a torch ignited at the Hiroshima Peace Shrine, and poured water into the pool that was taken from the river that flows through Nagasaki. The Peace Garden was formally dedicated a month later by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II." Entry #1330 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001).

S C U L P T U R E 1985 - Menorah (Six-Branch Candlestick), Yad Vashem, Jerusalem (Israel). Stainless steel monument designed in the form of a six-branched memorial light, representing the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. Designed by Zohara Schatz [1916-1999]. Lit every year on Holocaust Martyrs' & Heroes' Remembrance Day. Not shown on the new map, this monument stands among trees near the Children's Memorial & the Administration Building. Used for the Yad Vashem logo (or vice versa?). But is it being replaced by the emblem designed by Prof. Yarom Vardimon (images at far right)? Both symbols are used on the cover of the Yad Vashem brochure (as of June 27, 2011).

1987 - Monument for the Nagasaki Flame of Commitment, near the Hypocenter, Nagasaki Peace Park, Nagasaki (Japan). "Burns to symbolize the pledge that Nagasaki shall remain the last city on Earth to experience nuclear devastation, that nuclear war shall never again be waged, and that there shall be no more bomb victims." "The small flame was sent from Olympian city [sic] in Greece to Nagasaki in 1983. It is said that in ancient Greece all warring parties stopped fighting while the flame was burning during the Olympic Games. Thus, the Olympian Flame is also a symbol of peace. In the evening on every August 8 Peace Lanterns are lit from this flame."

1988? - World Peace Flame, Olympic Park, Seoul (South Korea). Apparently near Olympic Peace Gate (qv) which was constructed for the 1988 Olympic Games.

1988 - World Peace Gate, Olympic Park, Seoul (South Korea). "Imposing steel frame and reinforced iron structure 24 meters high, 37 meters wide, and 62 meters in length" built for the 1988 Summer Olympic Games.

November 6, 1988, The Flame, Baltimore Holocaust Memorial, Lombard & Gay Streets, Baltimore, Maryland (USA). 11-foot tall bronze sculpture. Depicts emaciated concentration camp inmates huddled together and being consumed by a fire. Sculped by Joseph Sheppard. Made by Fonderia Massimo Del Chiaro in 1987. Added to Arthur D. Valk's original (1980) Holocaust Memorial. Remained when Valk's work (which had "become a haven for illicit activity") was replaced by a new memorial designed by Lynn Katzen & architect Jonathan Fishman and dedicted October 6, 1997. Criticized for its explicit and graphic details, for being commissioned outside normal channels, and because it was an add on to the existing Valk work. Inscription around the top of the 6-foot cylindrical blanck granite base: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemed to repeat it." - George San Tayana [sic], 1863-1952.

August 6, 1990 - Association for the Flame of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Ueno Toshogu Shrine, Tokyo (Japan). "We hereby pledge to keep burning the A-bomb flame[s from Hiroshima & Nagasaki], convinced that this monument should contribute to strengthening the worldwide people’s movement to abolish nuclear weapons and achieve peace, which is the most urgent task for the people across the borders." Photo by EWL.

Date? - Azerbaijani Genocide Memorial, Baku (Azerbaijan).

Date? - Genocide Monument, Quba City (Azerbaijan). Click here for information about the Azerbaijan genocide.

F L A M E

Date? - Flame of Remembrance, Memorial Plaza, Museum of Tolerance, Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC), 9786 West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, California (USA). "Shown burning Tuesday, September 20, 2005, in memory of Simon Wiesenthal [1908-2005]. After surviving five death camps, Wiesenthal helped track down Nazi war criminals & then spent the rest of his life fighting anti-Semitism & prejudice against all people. He died Tuesday in Vienna (Austria) at age 96."

M U S E U M

1993 - Museum of Tolerance, Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC), 9786 West Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, California (USA). See Video & Website. NB: First observed use of the word "tolerance" in the name of a Holocaust monument. Entry #87 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001). One of 27 US museums in "Museums for Peace Worldwide" edited by Kazuyo Yamane (2008). Click here for Wikipedia article.

1994 - Peace Flame, Wellington Botanic Garden, Wellington (New Zealand). Stone lantern "holds a flame ignited by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Presented by the Japanese people to New Zealand in honour of this country's unilateral steps to halt the spread of atomic weapons through its Anti-Nuclear Act."

1995 - Peace Flame & Fountain, Cornerstone of Peace, Okinawa Peace Park, Okinawa (Japan). The bottom of the fountain is a map of the Pacific.

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

October 31, 2000 - Flame of Friendship /Flama de la Amistad, Convention Center, San Diego, California (USA). By Leonardo Nierman of Mexico City (Mexico). A gift from the Government of Mexico that was presented to the people of San Diego as a gesture of friendship. Has stunning vistas of San Diego Bay. The sculpture is made of polished stainless steel and is nearly 21-feet in height.

September 11, 2002 - "The Sphere" (World Peace Monument), Battery Park, New York City, New York (USA). Made in Bravaria (Germany) by Fritz Koenig. Erected March 11, 1969, between the two World Trade Center (WTC) towers to symbolize world peace through world trade. Damaged by terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. Left unrepaired & reerected in Battery Park as a memorial to the victims of the attack. Eternal flame ignited September 11, 2002.

2002 - Hiroshima Flame Monument, Hoshino, Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu Island (Japan). "Image shows Takudou Yamamoto displaying a flame that has been burning continuously since the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and was brought to the western Japanese village of Hoshino by his father Tatsuo, who kept it personally for more than two decades."

January-May 2002 - Hiroshima Flame Interfaith Peace Walk, Seattle via Oak Ridge to United Nations in New York, New York (USA).

2002 - Torch of Friendship, San Antonio, Texas (USA). Fifty-ton sculpture made in Mexico. A gift to San Antonio from the Association of Mexican Entrepreneurs. According to scu;ptor Sebastian, "Obviously, I thought of all the possible allegorical meanings of a burning torch, such as the fire of friendship, relationships, strength, and creativity. The complexity of the work is that it is in two parts; in this case from two countries, which is complex but the same time satisfying, festive, and friendly."

April 2004 - Kigali Memorial Centre, Kigali (Rwanda). "A reminder of the horrors of genocide in an attempt to stop history from repeating itself. The first floor retraces the events leading up to the 1994 genocide and details the heinous event itself. On the second floor is an area devoted to children who were killed in the genocide. Outside are the graves of over 250,000 people, and more are still being created as remains continue to be found."

October 22, 2006 - Nashville Holocaust Memorial, Gordon Jewish Community Center, 801 Percy Warner Boulevard, Nashville, Tennessee (USA). Sculptor Alex Limor (whose parents were both holocaust survivors), Limor Steel, Nashville, created the memorial's centerpiece: A large bronze book with missing or tattered pages filled with silhouettes of nameless faces to represent the status of European Jewry. Also has memorial wall inscribed with the names of deceased Holocaust survivors and victims and an eternal flame. Two quotations on entrance panel: George Santayana [1863-1952]: Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Edmund Burke [1729-1797]: " All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

October 9, 2007 - Lennon "Imagine Peace" Tower, Videy Island, Reykjavik (Iceland). Dedicated by Yoko Ono on John Lennon’s 67th birthday. John Lennon (1980): "If you can imagine a world of peace. If you can imagine the possibility. Then it can be true." Click here for Wikipedia article.

2009 - Memorial to the victims of the 9-11 attacks, Emek ha'arazim / Cedars Valley, Arazim Forest, Ramot, Jerusalem (Israel). "The only monument outside of New York which lists the names of all those who died in the attacks; five Israelis were among those killed. Depicts a waving American flag which changes into a [sculpted?] memorial flame. 30-feet high, with a piece of the original twin towers in its base. Designed by sculptor Eliezer Weishoff."

B E A C O N

November 5, 2011 - Beacon of Peace & Hope, Arkansas Inland Marine Museum (AIMM), North Little Rock, Arkansas (USA). 36-foot beacon projeting two lights at night: One for peace & one for hope. A project of Women's Action for New Directions (WAND). Construction started at the end of April 2009.

Wereldvredesvlam / World Peace Flame (WPF):

Click here for the World Peace Flame website. | Click here for WPF timeline. | Click here for even more information.

April 18, 2002 - WPF #1, Peace Palace, The Hague (Netherlands).

September 27, 2002 - WPF #2, National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis, Tennessee (USA). Photo by EWL.

March 2003 - Mansukh Patel received the Howard Thurman Ecumenical Stained Glass Award at the Martin Luther King Jr. Chapel at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia (USA) during the Gandhi-King Season for Nonviolence. The theme of this week was 'Universal Spirituality & Visionary Activism.'"

July 31, 2003 - "WPF #3, Dru World Wide, Snowdonia Mountain Lodge, Nant Ffrancon, Bethesda, Bangor, Gwynedd (Wales). "For the first time in history the fire of the five continents has been united in the World Peace Flame, during the International Peace Conference 1999 in North Wales. The Dutch princess Irene brought the European fire to Wales."

October 25, 2003 - WPF #4, Nature Care College, North Sydney, New South Wales (Australia).

April 22, 2004 - WPF Pathway, Peace Palace, The Hague (Netherlands).

May 9, 2004 - WFP #5, Cadzand, Zeeland, (Netherlands).

June 5, 2005 - WFP #6, Juliana Park, Venlo (Netherlands). "Ceremoniously lit by Mansukh Patel & Savitri MacCuish in a celebration involving children & local artists amid the presence of hundreds of people from across Europe."

September 17, 2005 - WPF #?, Byron Bay, New South Wales (Australia). "First lit during the annual Byron Bay Peace Festival. Byron Bay is the first town on the continent to receive the sun's light each morning. It is also home to the first Australian World Peace Flame Peace Pole, installed in 2001."

January 2006 - "Shanti Ratna Peace Award was presented to Mansukh Patel & Savitri MacCuish in the Ramoji Film Studios, Hyderabad (India) for the work of the World Peace Flame Pathway. An initiative in which every country and region of the world collaborated with the World Peace Flame Foundation to lay a Pathway around the World Peace Flame which stands out side the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). At the same time a Statement for Peace was endorsed by every single country & region in the world."

2006 - WPF #?, Hyderabad (India). Only information from Lopend Vuurtje.

In October 2008 - "Wilson Hinkes Peace Award was presented to the World Peace Flame Foundation for their contribution towards peace and in particular for empowering individuals to make a difference." Where is this?

October 7, 2010 - WPF #?, Keizer Karelplein Titushof, Nijmegen (Netherlands). In front of the Titus Brandsma Memorial Church. Titus Brandsma [1881-1942] in 2005 was named the Greatest "Nijmegenaar" of all time. "The Peace Apostle" it says on the plaque of Titus on the square. Info courtesy of Gerard Lössbroek.

2011 - WFP #?, Riemst, Limburg (Belgium). Info courtesy of Gerard Lössbroek.

March 21, 2012 - WFP #?, De Wonne Community, Twente, Overijssel (Netherlands). Info courtesy of Gerard Lössbroek.

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