21 Peace Monuments Dedicated in 1986 (UN International Year of Peace)

Right click image to enlarge.

Before 1986 - Manchester Peace Garden, St. Peter's Square, Manchester, (England). Includes "Messenger of Peace" (qv) and other sculpture. Part of "Manchester City of Peace."

April 1986 - "Messenger of Peace," Manchester Peace Gardens, St. Peter's Square, Manchester (England). Sculpted by Barbara Pearson. Also called "peace statue" and "the pigeon woman."

April 10, 1986 - Tree of Peace, Shasta Hall, California State University, Sacramento, California (USA). Original plaque (shown in image) given on Indigenous People's Day (Oct. 12, 2009) to Ensuring Native Indian Traditions club (ENIT) by E. Nathan Jones, CSU Theatre & Dance Department. Its inscription: "TREE OF PEACE. Dedicated by Chief Jake Swamp of the Mohawk Nation, April 10, 1986. 'When I look at this tree, May I be reminded that I laid down my weapons forever.'" Information courtesy of Trevor Super.

1986 - UN Internatonal Year of Peace. Click here for list of postage stamps issued to commemorate the International Year of Peace.

1986 - Beachy Head Peace Path, West Sussex (England). Commemorates the UN International Year of Peace (1986). "A 750 metre circular route starting opposite the main Beachy Head car park and leading to a viewpoint on the Head. One of several trails in the South Downs suitable for people with impaired mobility, wheelchairs, mobility scooters and push chairs." One of 13 sites on the MAW Peace Map of the British Isles as of January 2009.

1986 - Canberra Peace Park, Canberra, Australian Capitol Territory (Australia). Established for UN International Year of Peace. Monument added in 1990.

1986 - UN Year of Peace Commemorative Plaque, Riverbank Reserve, Cambridge Terrace, Christchurch (New Zealand). Stainless steel plaque on concrete plinth at base of tree opposite the Theosophical Society. Stainless steel plaque on concrete plinth at base of tree opposite the Theosophical Society.

1986 - Stamp for the UN International Year of Peace (Mexico). Shows the Banner of Peace of Nicholas Roerich [1874-1947]. Click here for a complete list of International Year of Peace stamps.

1986 - Stamp for the UN International Year of Peace (Australia). With dove of peace.

1986 - Finnish stamp for the UN International Year of Peace.

1986 - Masts of the Rainbow Warrior, Dargaville, North Island (New Zealand). "The masts of the Rainbow Warrior were first 'stepped' (ceremoniously raised) at Dargaville Museum in 1986, commemorating the bombing of Greenpeace’s anti-nuclear protest flagship in Auckland Harbor on July 10, 1985. The ship was preparing to depart from Auckland to protest French nuclear testing at Mururoa atoll in French Polynesia. A Greenpeace photographer was killed in the blast, and the French government eventually admitted responsibility for the bombing." /// This is "Monday's Monument" #115. /// See other Rainbow Warrior memorials in Auckland & Matauri Bay.

1986 - Peace Farm, Amarillo, Texas (USA). Twenty acres of land on the southern boundary of the Pantex Plant. "Established as an information source about the Pantex Plant and to stand as a visible witness against the weapons of mass destruction being assembled there." Includes the Madre Sculpture. /// "In February, 2006, a stunning art & educational exhibit about the nuclear arms race was given to the Peace Farm by the Prairie Peace Park near Lincoln, NE, where it had been installed since 1994. Created by Denver artists Barbara Donachy & Andy Bardwell, Amber Waves of Grain is a clay replica of the US nuclear arsenal as it stood at the peak of the Cold War: some 31,500 strategic & tactical nuclear warheads, over 1600 land & sea based missiles, 324 strategic bombers & 37 nuclear submarines. The pieces range in size from 4" warheads to 3" nuclear submarines. Created in 1982-83, the exhibit was shown in 18 locations before being installed at the Prairie Peace Park, including the National Mall in Washington, DC, universities, museums & other locations."

1986 - Friendship Gate, Chinatown, H Street at 7th Street, NW, Washington, DC (USA). Gift from Beijing (China) to its sister city Washington, DC. Said to be the largest gate of its type in the world.

1986 - Elie Weisel Foundation Foundation for Humanity, New York, New York (USA). Founded by Elie Wiesel & his wife Marion soon after he received the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize. Lost most of its assets due to the Bernard Madoff fraud in 2008.

1986? - Birthplace of Elie Wiesel, Sighet (now Sighetu Marmatiei), Maramures, (Romania). Elie Wiesel [born September 30, 1928] received the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize.

1986 - Hawaii Peace Memorial, Kennedy Theatre, Manoa Campus, University of Hawai`i, Honolulu, Hawai`i (USA). Granite monument commemorates Japanese immigration to Hawai‘i. Click here for a PowerPoint presentation.

1986 - Lochnagar Crater, La Boisselle, near Albert (France). "On 1st July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme (the largest battle of the First World War on the Western Front), British Royal Engineers dug under German trenches & detonated 27 tons of high explosives, opening a massive crater & killing more than 6,000. The site was purchased in 1978 by Englishman Richard Dunning who erected a memorial cross on the rim of the crater in 1986 using reclaimed timber from a Tyneside church. Dunning explains: “Lochnagar...symbolises the eternal pain, loss & sorrow of millions of grieving people throughout Europe. I urge you to commemorate those who fell there...not simply by remembering them, but by seeking to make the world that they were so cruelly denied a much more peaceful, forgiving & loving place.'" This is "Monday's Monument" #63.

M U S E U M

1986 - Istoriceskij Muzej Samarkanda / International Museum of Peace and Solidarity, Samarkand (Uzbekistan). "Museum runs a wide range of educational activities and international projects, as well as housing about 20,000 exhibit pieces from over 100 countries. It's probably the only place in the world where visitors can see a piece of the Berlin Wall, fragments of Soviet & US nuclear missiles, a part of an A-bombed roof tile from Nagasaki, soil from Auschwitz, in one place." Director is Ionesov, Anatoly. Multi-national staff uses Esperanto as a working language. Click here for other Esperanto monuments. Member of International Network of Museums for Peace (INMP).

1986 - Swords Into Plowshares Peace Center & Gallery, 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." Phone call in 2011 said the center is still in operation - apparently in a store front near the church.

1986 - War Memorial Fountain, Fieldhouse Mall (south end of North Quad), University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana (USA). Eight immense monoliths & four lintels, one of which is inscribed "Pro Patria et Pace." Also called "Clarke Peace Memorial" and "Stonehenge." Designed by Notre Dame trustee John Henry Burgee & Philip C. Johnson [1906-2005]. Inscription on adjacent plaque: "War Memorial Fountain erected through the generosity of Maude C. and John W. Clarke Chicago, Illinois. In memory of the Notre Dame men who gave their lives in World War II, Korea, Vietnam. May they rest in peace" Inscription on second plaque: "About 500 Notre Dame alumni gave their lives for their country and peace in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. In memorializing them, we join our prayers to their supreme sacrifice as we inscribe this column Pro Patria et Pace. For Our Country and Peace. This is our prayer that all living Notre Dame men and women dedicate themselves to the service of their country and world peace. -- Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., President, University of Notre Dame, 1986 A.D." Visited by EWL 29Jul09.

1986 - Blue Plaque for Mahatma Gandhi, 20 Baron's Court Road, Hammersmith & Fulham, London W14 (England). Mahatma Gandhi [1869-1948] lived here as a law student in the 1880's.

August 2, 1986 - "Flower of Love & Peace," Peace Symbols Zone, Nagasaki Peace Park, Nagasaki (Japan). From Poland. "Like a phoenix reborn from the ashes, like a flower grown out of stone, mankind affirms its existence when Peace reigns over the Earth."

H O U S E

November 26, 1986 - "Rauhanasema / Fredsstation / Peacestation / Peace House," Peace Square, Veturitori, Itä Pasila, Helsinki (Finland). Railroad station originally constructed in 1915. Google translation: "In 1984 Peace Union, was awarded a bid of 15 000 DM... The window was a peace sign & the banner: mobilization for peace. The building was towed to the current site. The house weighing 150 tonnes, 10 tonnes less than the blue whale, like the little boy said, inter... The station is growing corner of the apple tree, which is the gift of a peace conference of psychologists in 1986." Right image is "view from the Peace House." Information courtesy of Doug Fry.

1986-1991 - Arctic Arc, Cape Dezhnev, Naukan (Russia) & Cape Prince of Wales, Wales, Alaska (USA). A joint project by Michigan sculptor David Barr and Alaskan artist Joe Senungetuk. Two "sculpture installations" evoking a bird, a boat, and a hand extended in friendship. About 60 miles (97 km) apart on each side of the Bering Sea at sites of the first human migrations into North America. According to Barr, "the two sculptures are a peaceful symbol for a border of international tension."