Peace Monuments Dedicated in 1900-1904

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1900

1900 - Statues of War & Peace, Budapest History Museum, Buda Castle, Budapest (Hungary). "The monumental allegorical bronze statues are the work of Károly Senyey. Both War and Peace are represented by angels, one with a trumpet, the other with an olive branch. Under the angel of Peace is a returning soldier, while under the angel of War there is a dead Ottoman soldier & ancient Hungarian warriors."

About 1900 - Temple of Peace, International Theosophical Headquarters, Point Loma, San Diego, California (USA). "In 1896 Madame Katherine Tingley [1847-1929] became the leader of the Theosophical Society. In 1897 she purchased a sanitarium to found 'an Athens of the West' at Point Loma. She changed its name to the Academy (Homestead) and used it as a living quarters and as a schoolroom for the fine arts. In 1900 she completed the construction of this building by adding a stain-glass dome and then built the circular Temple of Peace next to the Academy." Image shows Raja-Yoga Academy (left) and Temple of Peace (right).

1901

1901, 1921 & 1914 - Obilisks in Puerto Iguazú, Misiones (Argentina), Alto Paraná (Paraguay) & Foz do Iguacu, Paraná (Brazil) on their respectives sides of the confluence of the Paraná & Iguazú Rivers. Each obilisk is painted in its national colors & is visible from the other two obilisks. The new monument in Puerto Iguazú (qv) was constructed in 2015 alongside the Argentine obilisk. Dates courtesy of guide Marcela A. Elia.

July 14, 1901 - Matthew C. Perry Memorial, Kurihama, Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture (Japan). "Large granite monument at exact spot near Tokyo where the Americans first came ashore in 1853. Unveiled by Commodore Perry's grandson, Rear Admiral Frederick Rodgers (Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Naval Force on Asiatic Station), & the newly installed Prime Minister, Katsura Taro [1848-1913]. Three American warships (USS New York, USS New Orleans & USS Yorktown) fired salutes from a mile off-shore during the ceremony. Accompanied by three Japanese warships (Shikishima, Hatsuse & Amagi). Monument sponsored by the Bei-yu Kyo-kai and erected with funds largely contributed by Japanese." Both photos taken on dedication day.

1902

M U S E U M

1902-WWI - International Museum of War & Peace, Lucerne (Switzerland). Opened by Ivan Bloch, aka Jan Bloch & Jean de Bloch [1836-1902], a Polish-Russian entrepreneur and author of the 6-volume master work "La Guerre Future / Is War Now Impossible?" (1898). Original opened in Shooting Festival Hall near Lucerne railroad station. Moved in 1910 to purpose-built building in Musegg Street. Closed in 1919/1920 after attendance dropped during World War I. See "The International Museum of War and Peace at Lucerne" by Peter van den Dungen, Schweizerische Zeitschrift fur Geschichte, vol, 31, pp, 185-202 (1981). Click here for "Preventing Catastrophe: The World's first peace museum" by Peter van den Dungen, Ritsumeikan Kokusai Kenkyu / The Ritsumeikan Journal of International Studies, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 23-36 (March 2006). Site now occupied by Kultur- und Kongresszentrum Luzern (KKL) / Culture and Congress Centre in Lucerne designed by French architect Jean Nouvel.

1899? - "Guerre à la guerre / War Against War" by Dutch painter Jan ten Kate [1850-1929], "The Dutch Vereshchagin" (qv). Canvas about 4x5 meters. Fried, Zola, Tolstoy, Czar Nicholas II, Dunant & other famous peacemakers are depicted in the foreground, including Bertha von Suttner [1843-1914] who is raising a Cross to ward off Death. One of three large ten Kate paintings which hung in Jean Bloch's International Museum of War & Peace, Lucerne (Switzerland), from 1902 until 1919/1920. (The other two were "La Garde à Mort/The Death Guard" & "Der Friedensengel/The Angel of Peace.") From Prof Peter van den Dungen 18Oct2013: " I researched [ten Kate's] peace paintings as part of my study of the history of the Bloch museum (published in 1981 in the Swiss Historical Journal), and was not successful in tracing any of the large paintings of his which were in the museum. More recently, colleagues in Lucerne also drew a blank. Arthur [Eyffinger] has reproductions in his books, but is unlikely to know more. I was first approached by a Dutch colleague about the Ten Kate paintings in Lucerne in the late 1970's, and it is frustrating that we are as ignorant now as then. One of the things I have never done is to pursue this matter via the professional art world, where there must exist various registers with the whereabouts of paintings."

T O M B

About 1902 - Bloch Chapel, Powazki Cemetery, Warsaw (Poland). Resting place of Jan Bloch [1836-1902/1901], Polish banker, author of "La Guerre Future" in 1898 & founder of the world's first peace museum (Lucerne, Switzerland, 1902). Chapel was abandoned & used as a cemetery tool shed until restored by the Fundacja im. Jana Blocha / Jan Bloch Foundation. Information courtesy of Peter van den Dungen. Photos courtesy of Krzysztof Szwarc. Click here for another biography. Click here for a short PowerPoint slide show about Bloch from the Jan Bloch Foundation.

1903

May 30, 1903 - "Goddess of Victory" (statue of William Tecumseh Sherman), Central Park, New York City, New York (USA). "At the statue, which is mounted on an 11-foot-high pedestal, David McCullough exclaims, 'Isn't it great! Look at that face! It's the face of a madman! Grim and pockmarked...the very image of the horrors of war!' Sherman, celebrated & reviled for his brutal 1864 march from Atlanta to the sea, is famous for saying 'War is hell.' McCullough likes to recite the lesser known part of Sherman's speech: 'I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine.' McCullough lingers on the word moonshine. 'And look, there's the (horse's upraised) foot that gave [sculptor] Augustus Saint-Gaudens [1848-1907] so much trouble.' But what McCullough likes best about the statue is the figure in front of Sherman, a barefooted, winged goddess of Victory. She clutches a palm branch in her left hand and reaches out with her right hand, as if leading the way for Sherman. 'She makes it great,' McCullough says, noting the contrast between war-weary Sherman & Victory's youth and beauty. 'But there is no joy, no gleam of triumph or glory in her expression. Her eyes are wide, her mouth open, as if she was under a spell.' McCullough adds, 'She was African American (a 24-year-old model from South Carolina named Hettie Anderson). No one knows that!'"

1904

March 13, 1904 - Cristo Redentor de los Andes / Christ of the Andes, Uspallata Pass, Andes Mountains (Argentina/Chile). Celebrates the Peace of King Edward VII [1841-1910] of England. The statue was cast from melted military armaments, and hauled thirteen thousand feet to the top of the mountain by the armies of both nations. The monument was on the cover of Time Magazine, December 17, 1928. Two-meter replica erected at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands) in 1913. 1 of 40 monuments in "Peace Symbols" by Zonia Baber (1948), pp. 28-29.

1912 - Peace Statue, Kings Road, Brighton/Hove (England). Depicts the Angel of Peace. Celebrates King Edward VII [1841-1910] of England after he brought about peace between Argentina & Chile.