Peace Flames & Beacons
Around the World
See below for special section on World Peace Flame.
Click here for website about eternal flames.Right click image to enlarge.
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 by President Franklin Deleno Roosevelt on 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg in presence of 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).
1964 - John F. Kennedy Torch of Friendship, Bayfront Park, Miami, Florida (USA). Contains seals of Latin American countries.
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."
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 Prize in 1964. He was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968.)
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."
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).
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.
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."
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.
NYMarch 11, 2002 - "The Sphere" (World Peace Monument), Battery Park, New York City, New York (USA). Made in Bravaria (Germany) by Fritz Koenig. Erected in 1969 between the two World Trade Center (WTC) towers to symbolize world peace through world trade. Damaged on September 11, 2001. Left unrepaired and reerected in Battery Park as a memorial to the victims of the attack. Eternal flame ignited September 11, 2002.
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.
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.
Future - Beacon for 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). A groundbreaking ceremony has already taken place.
| The World Peace Flame (WPF): |
Click here for the World Peace Flame website.
April 18, 2002 - WPF #1, Peace Palace, The Hague (Netherlands).
July 31, 2003 - WPF #3, Dru World Wide, Snowdonia Mountain Lodge, Nant Ffrancon, Bethesda, Bangor, Gwynedd (Wales).
October 25, 2003 - WPF #4, Nature Care College, North Sydney, New South Wales (Australia).
