Peace Monuments Dedicated in 1850-1899

Right click image to enlarge.

1850 - Paulskirche, Frankfurt (Germany). "Seat of course of the 1848-49 parliament [the first publicly and freely elected body of Germany], but also of the August 1850 international peace congress (of the peace movement). If I remember well, there are some reminders of this inside the building. I visited it at least once, when I received an invitation to attend the award of Germany’s most important peace prize, the one awarded by the German book trade (Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels). The annual ceremony is being held here. In my view, it comes second, after the Nobel, in terms of the elaborateness of the ceremony, the dignity of the occasion, the standing in the country, the documentation which is produced, etc. It follows the Nobel at some distance, but that is inevitable (no royalty involved, the prize money is less, the outside world hardly takes notice, etc.). It has interesting origins, not long after World War II."

1851 - Marble obelisk, between San Diego, California (USA). & Tijuana (Mexico). Italian marble. "Made in New York, brought around the Horn, and erected here to mark the southwestern corner of our nation and proclaim our friendship with Mexico. The large round slab on which it sits was clearly designed to allow one to walk around the monument. This would now not be easy [i.e. impossible], because of the fence." Reconstructed in 1894. Parks on each side of the border were inentended to celebrate international friendship. Today a US fence prevents contact across the border.

1855 - The Reconcilation of Montagues and Capulets (Over the Dead Bodies of Romeo and Juliet), Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut (USA). By Frederic Lord Leighton [1830-1896].

1858 - Statue of Peace, East front portico (to the right of the Columbus doors), US Capitol, Washington, DC (USA). Marble sculpture by George Gianetti, (after Luigi Persico). Draped in simple flowing robes, Peace holds an olive branch in her left hand.

June 4, 1862 - Joseph Sturge Memorial, Swallow Hotel, Five Ways, Birmingham (England). Joseph Sturge [1793-1859] was a Quaker who campaigned tirelessly for peace, even visiting St. Petersburg in an attempt to avert the Crimean War. Memorial was restored & rededicated on March 24, 2007.

March 2007 - Blue Plaque for Joseph Sturge, 64 Wheeleys Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham (England).

T R E E

c1862-Early 1930's - Peace Tree, US Botanic Garden, Washington, DC (USA). Overcup oak marking the spot where Kentucky Senator John J. Crittenden [1787-1863] made an address in an effort to avert the Civil War. Transplanted about 1920 to make way for the Grant Memorial [image]. "Probably succumbed in the early 1930's when the Botanic Garden was finally leveled..." Crittenden had sons fighting on opposite sides of the Civil War & tried to forge a compromise on the eve of war, but it was narrowly rejected. Info from Savage (2009), pp. 94, 181-6.

1864 & 1872 - Salle de l'Alabama / Hall of the Alabama, Hotel de Ville / City Hall, Geneva (Switzerland). On August 22, 1864, the [First] Geneva Convention was signed here, founding the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and beginning Geneva's role as an internaitonal city." On September 14, 1872, an international tribunal meeting here settled the so-called "Alabama Claims" of the USA against the UK about actions of the CSS Alabama & other raiders during the US Civil War, thus establishing the principle of international arbritration.

April 14, 1865 - Ford's Theater & Lincoln Museum, National Park Service (NPS), Washington, DC (USA). Became iconic the moment President Lincoln was assassinated in the theater on April 14, 1865.

1865 - Buxton Memorial Fountain, Victoria Tower Gardens, Millbank, Wesminster, London (England). "Commemorates the emancipation of slaves in 1834. Erected by Charles Buxton, MP, & dedicated to his father Sir Thomas Foxwell Buxton. Also to abolitionists William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, Thomas Babington Macaulay, Henry Brougham & Stephen Lushington. Designed by Gothic architect Samuel Sanders Teulon [1812-1873]... Originally in Parliament Square, removed in 1940 & moved to its present position in 1957."

1870 - Peace Memorial Fountain, Smithfield, London (England). "This statue was put here in 1870 by The Metropolitan Drinking Fountain Association. The bronze figure of Peace is by John Birnie Philip [1824-1875] - more famous for his work on the Albert Memorial. The matching statues of Temperance, Faith, Hope & Charity have long gone."

1871 - Friedenslinde / Peace Linden Tree, "Our Lady" Protestant Church, Town Square, Frickenhausen, near Stuttgart (Germany). Translation of plaque: "Nature Monument and Symbol of Peace / This linden tree is a protected natural monument. Primary purpose is securing and maintaining it as typical for the landscape. The top of the tree is of particular importance. / This linden tree was planted in 1871 in memory of the end of the war and peace with France. That is why it is called the 'Peace Linden.'" Photographer's commentary: "Perhaps I am too cynical, but I strongly suspect that the tree was originally a Siegeslinde / 'Victory Linden' and was only later, after WW-II, re-interpreted. But I am sending an e-mail to the local pastor. Maybe he can tell me more." Note: Many other linden trees were planted in Germany about this time to mark the end of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871).

1871 - Apotheosis of War, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow (Russia). Oil on canvas by Russian artist Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin [1842–1904]. Dedicated by the artist "to all conquerors, past, present and to come."

1872 - George Fox Memorial, George Fox Lane, Fenny Drayton (England). At birthplace of George Fox [1624-1691]. Click here for Quaker peace monuments worldwide.

1874 - Lincoln's Tomb, Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois (USA). Includes reproductions of Lincoln statues in Chicago & Washington, DC. Mary Todd Lincoln and sons Tad, Willie & Eddie are also buried here, but not son Robert (who is buried in Arlington National Cemetery).

April 14, 1876 - Emancipation Memorial, Lincoln Park, East Capitol Avenue & 12th Street, Capitol Hill, Washington, DC (USA). Dedicated by Frederick Douglass & President Ulysses Grant. Sculpted by Thomas Ball. "Depicts Abraham Lincoln holding his Emancipation Proclamation and standing over Archer Alexander [1828-1880?] breaking the chains of slavery. Alexander was the last slave captured under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850." Right image shows this monument on the cover of "Standing soldiers, kneeling slaves: Race, war, and monument in nineteenth-century America," by Kirk Savage (1999).

1877 "Peace and Vigilance," Old Post Office, N 8th St at Olive St, St. Louis, Missouri (USA). By renowned artist Daniel Chester French [1850-1931]. Moved indoors in 1989. "Vigilance is on the ball. She is alert, scanning the horizon. Her posture is relaxed, but a sword is ready in her right hand. Peace, on the other hand, is harder to interpret. She holds an olive branch in her left hand (I don't know if the lefty olive has a meaning) but, frankly, she looks depressed rather than peaceful. Maybe her lover left, her dog died and, as the old Commander Cody song has it, she's down to seeds and stems again, too. The eagle shrieks over the whole scene. Vigilance might appreciate the scouting help, but how is Peace going to get any, well, peace with that screaming bird over her head? Maybe that's why she's depressed."

1878 - "Charrue de la Paix" / "Plow of Peace," Salle de l'Alabama / Hall of the Alabama, Hotel de Ville / City Hall, Geneva (Switzerland). 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 à Philadelphie par l' "Universal Peace Union". La cloche est une réplique miniature de la "Liberty Bell" de Philadelphie. Elle sonna l'ouverture de la première assemblée de la Société des Nations le 15 novembre 1920."

1878 - Naval Peace Monument, The Mall, Washington, DC (USA). Commemorates role of US Navy during the Civil War. Facing the US Capitol is Peace, a classical figure draped from the waist down and holding an olive sprig. The monuments's other alegorical figures are Grief, History & Victory. Sculpted from Carrara marble in Rome (Italy) by Franklin Simmons [1839-1913].

July 17, 1878 - Civil War Fountain, US highways 11 & 30, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania (USA). "15,000 people braved 94-degree heat for the ceremony and a 2-hour parade. Women of the community raised money for the fountain, more of a monument to peace than the martial monument that the men wanted. A compromise was struck with the inclusion of a statue of a soldier facing south against another invasion by Confederates."

January 29, 1879 - Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument, Crow Agency, Montana (USA). "The site was first preserved as a national cemetery on January 29, 1879, and in 1881 a memorial obelisk by Durwood Brandon (left image) was erected on Last Stand Hill over the mass grave of the solidiers of the 7th Calvery." An iron "Spirit Warriors Sculpture" by native artist Colleen Cutschall (right image) honoring the Native Americans was placed next to the old memorial in 2002.

Circa 1900:

2 O B I L I S K S

Oblisk on left: 1879 - Robert Owen Memorial, Kensal Green Cemetery, London (England). Erected by committee under Joseph Corfield [1808-1888]. Robert Owen [1771-1858] developed utopian communities both in New Lanark (Scotland) and New Harmony, Indiana (USA). This is not his grave; he is buried in Newtown, Montgomeryshire (Wales).

Oblisk on right: August 1885 - Reformers Memorial, Kensal Green Cemetery, London (England). Column of light stone inscribed "to the memory of the men and women who have generously given their time and means to improve the conditions and enlarge the happiness of all classes of society." Erected by Joseph William Corfield [1809-1888] of Abney Park, a Unitarian and member the South Place Ethical Society. Displays "the names of 50 well-known reformers. Another 25 were added in 1907 on the instructions of Corfield's daughter Emma." The first two names are Robert Owen [1771-1858] and John Bellers [1654-1725]. "The remaining 72 names include many well known social reformers, Christian Socialists, Co-operators and political activists." "Contested Sites: Commemoration, Memorial and Popular Politics in Nineteenth-Century Britain" (by Paul A. Pickering, Alex Tyrrell et al, May 2004) names 46 of the reformers.

1883-1929 -Carnegie Libraries. Built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie [1835-1919]. More than 2,500 Carnegie libraries were built, including some belonging to public and university library systems. Of the 2,509 such libraries funded between 1883 and 1929, 1,689 were built in the United States, 660 in Britain and Ireland, 125 in Canada, and others in Australia, New Zealand, Serbia, the Caribbean, and Fiji. Very few towns that requested a grant and agreed to his terms were refused. When the last grant was made in 1919, there were 3,500 libraries in the United States, nearly half of them built with construction grants paid by Carnegie." Image shows 1916 library in Grass Valley, California (USA).

1884 - "Peace: The Genius of History, Esplanade Avenue at Bayou Road, New Orleans, Louisiana (USA). Statue originally decorating the site of the 1884 World's Fair. Left image by EWL.

O B E L I S K

P L A Q U E S

February 21, 1885 - Washington Monument, The Mall, Washington, DC (USA). Construction began in 1845. 555 feet tall. World's tallest obelisk. World's tallest masonry structure. Exterior is plain, but interior stairway (no longer accessible to public) contains 193 plaques from every state & from many foreign countries. (One plaque is said to have been donated by the pope but was ripped out & trashed by US soldiers.).

1887 - Angel of Peace, Soldiers & Sailors Monument, East Rock, New Haven, Connecticut (USA). Taken down, restored & returned to the top of the rock in 2008.

1887 - "Standing Lincoln" Statue, Lincoln Park, Chicago, Illinois (USA). By Irish-born American sculptor August Saint-Gaudens [1848-1907]. A favorite of Hull House founder [& Nobel Peace Prize laureate] Jane Addams [1860-1935] who once wrote, "I walked the wearisome way from Hull-House to Lincoln Park ... in order to look at and gain magnanimous counsel from the statue."

1887 - Home of Abraham Lincoln & Mary Todd Lincoln, National Park Service (NPS), Springfield, Illinois (USA). Abraham Lincoln & Mary Todd Lincoln lived here 1844-1961. Donated by their son Robert to State of Illinois in 1887 and immediately opened to public (making it one of the earliest publicly held historical sites in the USA). Donated to National Park Service in 1972.

1890 - "Signal of Peace," Chicago, Illinois (USA). Sculpted in France by Cyrus E. Dallin [1861-1944] and exhibited at the World's Columbian Exposition (World's Fair) in 1893. "Represents a Sioux Chief on horseback, his right hand holding a spear pointed upward in a gesture of peace."

1890 - Peace Monument, Monument Hill, Leeds, Maine (USA). "Erected in memory of the 161 soldiers and sailors who served from this town. This is the largest per capita number serving in the war of any town in the State of Maine."

1891 - Vandalized in 2004? - Liberty Monument, near Canal Place, New Orleans, Louisiana (USA). Opposite the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas. From Wikipedia: "In 1891, a year after the Democratic legislature passed a new constitution that essentially disfranchised most blacks, the city government, by then representing only its white constituents, erected the Liberty Monument to 'commemorate the uprising' [of 1873-74]. In 1932 inscriptions were added to the monument which attested to its role in the white supremacist movement. In the late 20th century, the monument was seen as a symbol of racism by many in the black and Italian communities. (White League veterans led a mob that lynched eleven Sicilian men in 1891.) After the monument had to be removed because of street work in 1989, many residents opposed its being restored and replaced. The city tried to negotiate removing the inscriptions. Some people argued for its being restored at the original location. The content of the inscriptions was seldom discussed; rather, the issues were dealt with on technical grounds. Historic preservation officials argued for its replacement; others argued this was history which did not deserve continued commemoration." /// "[In 2004?] Anti-Nazi messages are written on the 'Liberty Monument.' The monument honors the White League members who died in an 1874 armed attack against the integrated Reconstruction government of Louisiana. David Duke had planned a rally to occur at this monument on Sunday, May 30th but the event was cancelled, possibly due to the actions taken against the monument. The monument commemorates the deaths of militant racists' attempts to suppress the participation of blacks in post-Civil War Louisiana government. The monument has long been reviled as a celebration of the militant racists in the White League. The 'Battle of Liberty Place' [on Sept. 14, 1874] has been called the largest street fight in American history; 3500 White League members faced 3600 New Orleans police and black militia."

1891 - Statue of John Bright, Broadfield Park, Rochdale (England). John Bright [1811-1889] was a "member of parliament for Rochdale, who fought to bring about the abolition of slavery and the slave trade."

1891 - Statue of John Bright, Albert Square, Manchester (England).

1892 - Post Building, Homestead, Pennsylvania (USA). Unintentional monument. Used by the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers (and the international press) as headquarters during the Homestead Lock Out and Strike of 1892. Now the visitors center of the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area "The strike began on June 30, 1892, and culminated in a battle between strikers and private security agents on July 6, 1892. One of the most serious disputes in US labor history. The dispute occurred in the Pittsburgh-area town of Homestead, Pennsylvania, between the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers (the AA) and the Carnegie Steel Company. The final result was a major defeat for the union, and a setback for efforts to unionize steelworkers... The pumphouse where the gunfight occurred [also] remains as a museum and meeting hall. There are several historical markers as well as a metal commerative sign with the US Steel logo that reads 'In Honor Of The Workers.'"

August 18, 1893 - Henry Richard Statue, Tregaron, Cardiganshire (Wales). By Albert Toft."Henry Richard [1812-1888] was born in Tregaron. He was a Nonconformist minister in London before being elected the Liberal Member of Parliament for Merthyr Tydfil in 1868. He was known as 'The Apostle of Peace' in recognition of his work with the Peace Society." One of 13 sites on the MAW Peace Map of the British Isles as of January 2009.

October 28, 1893 - Penn Treaty Park, Delaware (Columbus) Avenue & Beach Street, Fishtown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA). Alleged site of famous peace treaty signed by William Penn [1644-1718] and the Lenape Indians in 1683. Click here for Wikipedia article. See associated virtual PennTreatyMusuem.org. Mentioned by Tom Flores (2008).

1895 - Les Bourgeois de Calais / The Burghers of Calais, Calais (France). Bronze casting by Auguste Rodin [1840-1917] in 1884-86. Depicts six leading citizens who offered their lives in 1347 to King Edward III of England as ransom for the protection of other townsfolk. A copy was erected in Victoria Tower Gardens, London (England) in 1913 (qv). Other copies are in Bâle (Switzerland), Basel, Canberra, Copenhagen, Mariemont (Belgium), New York City, Paris, Pasadena, Philadelphia, Seoul, Tokyo, and Washington.

1895 - "Peace, Truth, Honesty, Fortitude, Self-Denial, Fidelity," original American Surety Building, 100 Broadway, just north of Wall Street, New York City, New York (USA). By John Massey Rhind. On second-floor level. Ground floor is presently occupied by Borders Books.

1896 - Panathinaiko / Olympic Stadium, Athens (Greece). Site of a stadium since 566 BCE, excavated in 1870, and rebuilt for the Summer games of 1896. Site of the archery competition in 2004.

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.

1897 - Negro Building, Tennessee Centennial Exposition (now Centennial Park), Nashville, Tennessee (USA). No longer exists. "Largest-ever display of African-American life and achievement." From dedication speech: "Here...the world may see the other side of Negro life than 'Sam Johnson, the chicken thief.' Here it may see the healthful buds of Negro handicraft, Negro art, science, literature, invention... Here... the old master who followed Lee's tattered banners... down to Appomattox sacrifices his pro-slavery ideas, and builds a monument to Negro fidelity and industry; and here the Negro brings the product of his brain and hand in grateful testimony to the friendly feelings between us."

1897 - Woman's Building, Tennessee Centennial Exposition (now Centennial Park), Nashville, Tennessee (USA). No longer exists. Site near the fair's full-scale reproduction of the Parthenon is marked by a subsequent monument with a sphere on top. Its plaque contains two quotations by Mrs. Van Leer (Kate) Kirkman, President, Woman's Department: "That that is round can be no rounder" and "Women's Work. Whatever may be necessary to preserve the sanctity of the home and ensure the freedom of the state." Right image by EWL.

1898 - Gunboat Melik, Nile riverbank, Khartoum (Sudan). "An unlikely symbol of Anglo-Sudanese co-operation, the Melik was a Victorian weapon of high technology and fearsome power, intended to terrorise the Sudanese rebels and to kill as many as possible. It was built in Chiswick (England) in 1896, then shipped in pieces to Egypt, taken by rail across the Nubian Desert, and reassembled at Abadieh on the Nile. From there it led a flotilla of heavily armed gunboats, a vital element in Kitchener's reconquest of Khartoum in 1898... Today the gunboat sits in a bed of dried mud and sand in a grove of mahogany trees, its decks tipped at an angle, the roof collapsing."

July 16, 1898 - Arbol de la Paz / Tree of Peace, Santiago de Cuba (Cuba). "On July 16, after sustaining more than 1,700 causalities the Spanish Army agreed to an unconditional surrender of all 23,500 troops that had been scattered about the city." "Armistice signed at the Arbol de La Paz (a large ceiba tree) by U.S. and Spanish forces. The Cuban Liberation Army did not participate in the act."

October 23, 1898 - Peace Cross, Massachusetts & Wisconsin Avenues, Cleveland Park, Washington, DC (USA). "Dedicated by President McKinley to mark the coming end of the Spanish-American War. It is located near the former location of the residence where the first meetings were held to plan Washington National Cathedral" (constructed 1907-1990). Also known as "Stone Cross."

1899 - Friedens- und Siegesdenkmal / Peace & Victory Monument, Edenkoben, Pfalz, Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany). "Commemorates the victorious war against France 1870-71. All the splendor of the fertile Rhine Valley offers a view from here. In good weather you can see the Odenwald and Heidelberg. 300 m further is the Strasbourg stone. From this monument has one if the weather has wonderful views to Strasbourg in Alsace (France). From there you could see at that time, the signals from Strasbourg that the 1870 war was won."