"Swords Into Plowshares" Around the World

"He shall judge between the nations. And rebuke many people. They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not take up sword against nation. Nor shall they learn war anymore." — Isaiah 2:4 & Micah 4:3.

Click here for Wikipedia article entitled "Swords to ploughshares."

See below for special section on "The Fin Project" of John T. Young (surplus nuclear submarine fins).
Click here for peace monuments made from old weapons.

Right click image to enlarge.

1876 - "Charrue de la Paix" / "Plow of Peace," Salle de l'Alabama / Hall of the Alabama, Hotel de Ville / City Hall,, Geneva (Switzerland). Made for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA). /// "Offerte à la Ville et au peuple de Genève après avoir figuré comme symbole de paix à l'exposition de Paris en 1878. Elle fut confectionnée avec les sabres que des officiers américains avaient cédés lors d'un congrès pour la paix tenu en 1872 [sic] à Philadelphie par l' "Universal Peace Union." 1 of 40 monuments in "Peace Symbols" by Zonia Baber (1948), pp. 18-19.

1893 - Columbian Peace Plow, Chicago, Illinois (USA). WHERE IS THIS NOW? /// "Cut its first furrow on the platform of the Parliament of Religions. It was made for the Universal Peace Union [UPU] by [John] Deere & Co., Moline, Illinois." /// "In 1893, under the auspices of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), a committee was appointed. Out of this committee a decision was made to create a PEACE PLOW from historical relics collected. The committee began to search for a plow-maker. Deere & Company jumped at the opportunity. Twenty-two thousand metal relics were represented in the original plow along with over 200 historical pieces of wood, each one with an interesting history." /// "In 1893, for the World's Fair in Chicago, Deere & Company commissioned [clutch inventor] Charles W. Borg [1861-19??] to create the 'Columbian Peace Plow,' which was a plowshare composed of historic swords. Some 22,000 metal relics went into the alloy from which the blade was cast. The beam and handles contained thousands of historic wood relics, some no bigger than a dime. The Columbian Peace Plow was exhibited at Bunker Hill [Massachusetts], in several states, on the battlefield of Runnymede [England], the Paris Exposition of 1900 [France] & at numerous world peace meetings in Europe. The plow was to have its home at the National Museum in Washington [Smithsonian Institution]." /// Lower image shows "[the] fabulous re-creation of such an important historical piece... This beautiful pewter replica of the original Columbian Peace Plow was painstakingly hand crafted using original documents obtained from the Deere & Company Archives and carefully placed in a specially fitted die-cut foam to ensure its safe arrival to your collection."

June 4, 1914 - Confederate Monument, Confederate Section, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia (USA). 32-foot monument designed by Moses Ezekiel [1844-1917]. "Topped by a woman representing the South...crowed by olive leaves, her left hand extending a laurel wreath toward the South,... her right hand holding a pruning hook resting on a plow stock... Inscribed at her feet: "And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." "Many historians believe it was the national call to arms during the Spanish-American War [1898-1902] that brought Northerners & Southerners together at last... In June of 1900, in this spirit of national reconcilation, the US Congress authorized that a section of Arlington Naitonal Cemetery be set aside for the burial of Confederate dead." -- From "Arlington National Cemetery: Shrine to America's Heroes" by James Edward Peters (1986).

1930's - "Swords Into Plowshares," Klassen Court, Bluffton College, Bluffton, Ohio (USA). Bronze plaque by Ukranian-American sculptor (and Bluffton College art instructor) John Peter Klassen [1888-1975]. Based on Issiah 2:4: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares." Photo by EWL.

1937 - Memorial Bell Tower, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina (USA). "And they shall beat their swords into plowshares" embossed on the door of the NCSU bell tower dedicted to alumni killed in World War I.

After 1940 - "Haven of Peace," International Peace Gardens, Jordan Park, Salt Lake City, Utah (USA). Depicts anvil for forging swords into plowshares. Where is this monument exactly?

After 1947 - Peace Sculpture, Gilgal Sculpture Garden, 749 East 500 South, Salt Lake City, Utah (USA). "Designed and created by LDS businessman Thomas Battersby Child, Jr. [1888-1963] in the mid-twentieth century, the Gilgal Sculpture Garden contains 12 original sculptures and over 70 stones engraved with scriptures, poems & literary texts." "Farther down, you'll notice an odd iron structure. It is meant to represent swords & spears that have been beaten into ploughshares."

January 3, 1959 - Conscientious Objectors Memorial Plaque, Peace Pledge Union (PPU), 1 Peace Passage, London (England). Names 70 of the 81 British CO's known to have died during World War I. Depicts a man striking a sword on an anvil. Carved by Canadian artist Dorothy Stevens [1888-1966] in 1923. (Click here to see her "Munitions Fuze Factory, 1919.") First erected in Berlin (Germany) at the headquarters of the Bund der Kriegsdienstgegner, the German section of the War Resisters International (WRI),. Taken to south Denmark in 1933. Hidden in Sweden in 1940. Now on permanent loan to the PPU, principal British section of the WRI. One of 21 peace monuments named by the PPU website.

1959 - "Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares", United Nations, New York City, New York (USA). Bronze statue sculpted by Evgeniy Vuchetich [1908-1974] to represent the human wish to end all wars by converting the weapons of death and destruction into peaceful and productive tools that are more beneficial to mankind. Donated to the UN by the Soviet Union. Entry #752 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001).

1975 - Isaiah Wall, Ralph Bunche Park, East 43rd Street & First Avenue, New York City, New York (USA). Quotes Isaiah 2:4: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares." Just across First Avenue from the United Nations. Entry #718 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001).

April 7, 1979 - "Swords Into Plowshares," Humphreys County Library, 105 South Hayden, Belzoni, Mississippi (USA). "Sculpture of wooden plow handles & welded iron plowshares. Approximately 39 x 27 x 22 inches on a stone base 19 x 16 x 82 inches. Mildred Love Pepper, sculptor. Belzoni Garden Club, donor." Entry #546 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001).

Date? - Peace Memorial, Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park & Funeral Home, Clearwater, Florida (USA). "This monument to peace is Excalibur. Can you disturb this peace by removing it from the stone?" Plaque: "THIS MEMORIAL IS DEDICATED TO PEACE AND TO MAN'S SEARCH FOR IT. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares. Nation shall not lift up sword agains nation. Neither shall they learn war anymore. Isaiah 2:4."

Date? - Peace Memorial Statue, Oakwood Mausoleum, Oakwood Cemetery, 6100 Gratiot Road, Saginaw, Michigan (USA). "This statue of a man beating his swords into plowshares is the biblical representation of peace."

September 9, 1980 - Plowshares Movement. "Daniel Berrigan, his brother Philip Berrigan, and six others (the "Plowshares Eight") began the Plowshares Movement by trespassing onto the General Electric Nuclear Missile facility in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania (USA), where they damaged nuclear warhead nose cones and poured blood onto documents and files." There have been subsequent Plowshares Movements, including "Transform Plowshares Now," three protestors who penetrated the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in July 2012.

1983 - Sverd i fjell / Swords in Rock, Hafrsfjord Neighborhood, Madla, Borough, City of Stavanger, Rogaland (Norway). "Created by sculptor Fritz Røed [1928-2002]. Unveiled by King Olav V. The three bronze swords stand 10 metres (33 ft) tall & are planted into the rock of a small hill next to the fjord. They commemorate the historic Battle of Hafrsfjord which by tradition took place there in the year 872, when King Harald Fairhair gathered all of Norway under one crown. The largest sword represents the victorious Harald, and the two smaller swords represent the defeated petty kings. The monument also represents peace, since the swords are planted into solid rock, so they may never be removed."

1985 - Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, 418 Shuiximen Street, Jiangdongmen, Nanjing (China). Expanded in 1995 and 2005-2007. Now 25,000 square meters. Click here for Wikipedia article. Has "academic cooperation agreement" with Kyoto Museum for World Peace. Whole building resembles a broken sword when seen from the side and a plow when seen from above.

After 1985 - Sword Into Plowshare, Swetsville Zoo, 4801 East Harmony Road, Timnath, Fort Collins, Colorado (USA). Depicts a sword morphing into a plow & a Christian cross. Invokes Isaiah 2:4. All "animals" in this "zoo" were built by Bill Swets from car parts, farm machinery & scrap metal.

June 13, 1986 - Swords Into Plowshares Peace Center & Gallery (SIP), Central United Methodist Church, 33 East Adams Avenue (corner of Woodward Avenue), Detroit, Michigan (USA). "5,000 sq. ft. art gallery, gift shop, children's corner & reference library." "Brings together the arts and the need for world peace." Created by James W. Bristah [1919-2001] & managed by Lois St. Aubin White. One of 27 US museums in "Museums for Peace Worldwide" edited by Kazuyo Yamane (2008).

1994 - Sculpture "Swords into Ploughshares," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna International Centre (VIC), Vienna (Austria). "This sculpture, made out of non-nuclear material from a dismantled nuclear device, symbolizes the commitment to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. It was donated to the IAEA by the Republic of South Africa in 1994. 'And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.' (Quotation from Isaiah 2:4) Although this is the smallest sculpture at the UN Vienna, it is by no means the least important."

1994 - Peace Mural, Denver International Airport, Denver, Colorado (USA). "Depicts all of the children of the world taking the weapons from each country on earth and giving them to a central figure...who has this iron fist and anvil in his hand that is totally out of proportion to the child's body, beating the swords into plowshares."

S C U L P T

1997 - Guns to Plowshares, Judiciary Square Metro Stattion, Washington, DC (USA). Sculpture by Esther & Michael Augsburger: 20-foot plowshare with 3,000 welded handguns donated by the Metropolitan Police. Entry #1111 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001).

S C U L P T

Date? - Unnamed peace sculpture, across from the Cinematek Theater, Derech Hebron, Jerusalem (Israel). Base is made of machine guns & mortars beat into plowshears. Inscribed in Hebrew & Arabic from Isaiah Chapter 2 Verse 4: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. And they shall beat their swords into plowshears and their spears into pruning hooks."

Date? - Window, Where?, Quad Cities?, Iowa (USA). Stained glass window with sword and "Isaiah 2:4."

April 12, 2002 - Swords Into Plowshares Peace Monument, World Plaza, Independence Temple, Community of Christ, Independence, Missouri (USA). Sculpted by Dave Martin. Dedicated by Ela Ghandi, recipient of the 2002 Community of Christ International Peace Award.

Date? - "They shall beat their swords into plowshares" Monument, Menachem Begin Heritage Center, Jerusalem (Israel). Begin quoted this verse when he accepted his Nobel Peace Prize in 1978.

June 16, 2004 - Menachem Begin Heritage Center, Jerusalem (Israel). "The official state memorial commemorating Menachem Begin [1913-1992], Israel’s sixth Prime Minister. The Center is located on the Hinnom Ridge, overlooking Mount Zion & walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. On March 28, 1998, the Knesset passed the Menachem Begin Commemoration Law as an official state memorial project to establish a Center that would preserve the achievements and legacy of Menachem Begin and serve as a Research Institute of the Struggle for the Independence of Israel and its future security and development."

W A L L

August 22, 2012 - Wall for Peace 2011, Concourse A/B, Washington Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia (USA). By Anil Revri. "7 feet long, 6 ½ feet high, free-standing rectangular sculpture that features a four-sided LED screen that displays English translations of scriptures related to peace from Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism. Rays of light emanating from the unit are projected onto the viewers as they walk around the work... On display until March 2013." Still there as of August 2014. Information courtesy of Sharron King.

The Fin Project: From Swords Into Plowshares

Two monuments in different cities made from the surplus fins of nuclear attack submarines.
Click here for website of sculptor John T. Young.

May 30, 1998 - Magnuson Park, Sand Point, Seattle, Washington (USA). 22 fins. Entry #1053 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001).

September 2002 - Pelican Harbor, North Bay Village, Miami, Florida (USA). 24 fins.

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