Peace Monuments Dedicated in 1996 (Year of Olympic Games in Atlanta)

Click here for Wikipedia article on the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia (USA).

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February 29, 1996 - Peace Table #3 for Asia, Hall of Peace, Unity Pavilion, International Zone, Auroville, Tamil Nadu (India). By Japanese-American craftsman George Nakashima [1905-1990] of New Hope, Pennsylvania (USA). The Auroville community sprang from the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, where George Nakashima was once a disciple.

March 31, 1996 - "Children Trusting in the Future," Nagasaki (Japan). "Erected in tribute to the young people of Asia who suffered in the fires of war while trusting in the furure... Represents two girls who disappeared into the sky over Nagasaki praying for a peaceful world free of nuclear weapons." Based on a painting by Hiroshi Matsuzoe and a letter from Mrs. Shina Fukutome, mother of one of the two dead girls depicted in the painting.

April 1996 - "Triumph of Peace Over War," Peace Symbols Zone, Nagasaki Peace Park, Nagasaki (Japan). From the City of San Isidro, Argentina. "The parts of the sculpture other than the red sphere symbolize the chaos and death of war,while the red sphere at the top signifies the ultimate triumph of life."

B E L L

April 1996 - Peace Bell (Bonsho), Gan Sacker / Sacher Park, Nahlaot, Jerusalem (Israel). Engraved with the quote from Psalms: "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper that love thee as well." (Posthumous plagiarism?) Inscription on ground beneath the bell: "This Bonsho has been placed here as a symbol of lasting peace over the City of Jerusalem. The concept of the bell welcomed by the late Prime Minister of Israel Mr. Yitzhak Rabin. This project was made possible by the donations of people whose names are listed in the scroll beneath the Bonsho, represented by Mr. Rikihiro Madarame, presented to the City of Jerusalem and accepted by the mayor M.K. Ehud Olmart. April 1996." English portion of inscription inside the bell: "Koto Oho Shiga Pref Japan, Kinjudo Co., Ltd., 1996.4" The Jerusalem bell has no external striker & therefore cannot be properly rung. Rikihiro Madarame founded Nemic-Lambda, a top producer of power-switching equipment, in 1970. N.B.: This bell was dedicated just days before the International Friendship Bell in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (USA). Upper image by EWL 27June2011. Lower image made 5March2015 during march by "Women Wage Peace."

May 3, 1996 - International Friendship Bell, Bissell Park, Oak Ridge, Tennessee (USA). Represents 50th anniversary of the City of Oak Ridge. Paid for in part by contributons by the people of sister city Naka-Machi (Japan). Only inscriptions on the bell are PEACE, INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIP, and the dates of Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and VJ Day. Bell cast by Sotetsu Iwasawa, Iwasawa no Bonsho Co., Ltd., Kyoto (Japan). Pavilion designed by University of Tennessee architecture professor Jon Coddington. Lower left image shows Hiroshima Boys Choir singing at the bell on March 30, 2006. Lower right image shows deliberate destruction of rotten bell pavillion on July 28, 2014. Click here to read history of this bell. Click here to see pictorial history. Click here to hear this bell on website of Ray Adams. UR by Herman Postma. LL image by EWL. LR image by Knoxville News Sentinel.

June 1996 - "Ensemble pour la Paix et la Justice" / Group for Peace and Justice," Parc de la Tête d'Or, Lyon (France). Cette sculpture a été réalisée par Xavier de Fraissinette à l’occasion du G7 de Lyon, les 27, 28, 29 juin 1996."

1996 - "A Landmark for Peace," MLK Park, one block west of 17th Street & College Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana (USA). Marks the spot where presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy [1926-1968] announced on April 4, 1968, to a large, mostly Black audience that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. [1929-1968] had just been assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. (Kennedy was assassinated on June 6, 1968.) Designed by Indiana artist Greg Perry, the monument includes busts of King & Kennedy sculpted by controversial artist Daniel Edwards from handguns melted down after a police buy back program. Click here for a description by Rev. Chris Buice of Knoxville, Tennessee, including text of Kennedy's speech which helped prevent race riots as occured in at least 110 other US cities. Click here for a 2009 video about the event and monument. Click here for air view of the park & monument. A plaque credits Diane Meyer Simon and various Simon family interests as major contributors. The plaque also says that the monument is "Dedicated to the memory of Larry Conrad" but says nothing about Conrad (a local lawyer and Democratic politician who died in 1990). Visited by EWL 08Aug09.

1996 - "Wish Tree for Peace," Akasaka Hikawa Shrine, Akasaka, Tokyo (Japan). A ginkgo tree which is 400 years old and grows branches and leaves splendidly even now, although it has a huge hole in its trunk as a result of an air bombing during WW-II. "Wish Tree," a project to wish for peace, [has been] placed around this ginkgo tree. After the spectators write their wishes on white pieces of paper and tie them onto the branches, the messages will be sent to Yoko Ono and will be stored in the Peace Monument.

1996 - UNESCO Memorial Plaque, Media School, Pienza, near Siena, Tuscany (Italy). Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the UNESCO constitution. Text (quoted from the constitution's preamble): "Nello spirito degli uomini hanno inizio le guerre. Nello spirito degli uomini devono essere innalzate le difese della pace. / Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed." "In 1996, UNESCO declared the town a World Heritage Site, and in 2004 the entire valley, the Val d'Orcia, was included on the list of UNESCO's World Cultural Landscapes." /// "It was in this Tuscan town that Renaissance town-planning concepts were first put into practice after Pope Pius II decided, in 1459, to transform the look of his birthplace." Information & left image courtesy of Francesco Pugliese & Peter van den Dungen. Right image of UNESCO plaque marking the Historic Centre of the City of Pienza is courtesy of TripAdvisor.

1996 - Peace Garden, Seattle Center, Seattle, Washington (USA). "A quiet place of contemplation. Included in the site, just west of the Space Needle Turnaround, is a Peace Pole (one of hundreds located around the world by the Goi Peace Foundation of Tokyo, Japan); The Conflict Resolution Table, designed by the teenagers of the Seattle Center Peace Academy; the Aki Kurose rock (honoring Aki Kurose [1925-1998], a Japanese American educator and peace activist, in 2002) and the Middle East Peace sculpture installed in 2003. The garden was created by Seattle Center staff with a varied combination of materials including the cobblestones from the original International Fountain."

1996 - Nobel Peace Walk, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, (Australia). "Historical and educational project paying tribute to those people who's [sic] life's work was to promote peace. The project's theme is 'peace for all time.' The walk was conceived by master stonemasons J Shephard & Son and commenced in 1996. It was inspired by their involvement with the design and construction of the original Rotary Peace Monument [qv]."

1996 - Butterfly Peace Garden, Batticaloa (Sri Lanka). "Provides counseling & support to children traumatized by civil conflict in the region. In late 2004 the BPG also became a centre for helping victims of the tsunami which devastated the Batticaloa area. Supported by a variety of local & international agencies and charities, including the governments of Canada & the Netherlands, WarChild International and Ashoka International, which named BPG co-founder Paul Hogan a fellow in 2003."

1996 - Henri Dunant Monument, Nobel Peace Walk, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales (Australia). Henry Dunant [1828- 1910] founded the International Red Cross. He & Frédéric Passy [1822-1912] shared the first (1901) Nobel Peace Prize.

1996 - Bertha von Suttner Monument, Nobel Peace Walk, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales (Australia). Bertha von Suttner [1843-1914] received the 1905 Nobel Peace Prize.

1996 - Albert Schweitzer Monument, Nobel Peace Walk, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales (Australia). Albert Schweitzer [1875-1965] received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize.

July 18, 1996 - Rotary Peace Monument, Baldwin County Courthouse, Milledgeville, Georgia (USA). One of several peace monuments promoted by the Rotary Club of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales (Australia).

1996 - Rotary Peace Monument, East Los Angeles Community College, East Los Angeles, California (USA). One of several peace monuments promoted by the Rotary Club of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales (Australia).

1996 - Historical Marker, Pittsburgh Street, Springdale, Pennsylvania (USA). "The heritage of the Carnegie Hero Fund was commemorated in 1996 by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission through the issuance of a roadside marker, which was installed near the sites of both the mine and the cemetery in which many of the disaster's victims were buried [after the massive explosion on January 25, 1904, in a coal mine at Harwick, PA, near Pittsburgh, claimed 181 lives and inspired Carnegie to create the Fund]. More than 1,600 such markers have been issued by the state since the program's inception in 1946. The blue and gold signs dotting the state's highways commemorate subjects having meaningful impact and statewide or national significance."

1996 - Carnegie Monument, Hardy Ivy Park, 310 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, Georgia (USA). Formally named the Carnegie Education Pavillion. "Created from the intricate facade of the downtown Carnegie Central Library, which was built in 1901 and demolished in 1977 to make way for the Fulton County Library that now stands at that site. Fortunately, these architectural bays were preserved and ultimately used to create this elegant 23 foot square pavilion in 1996. In homage to the Carnegie legacy, it is a monument to higher education in Atlanta with the seals of nine local area colleges and universities embedded in the pavilion floor." Fragments under the pediments: THE ADVANCEMENT. OF LEARNING. MILTON. CARNEGIE.

1996 – Visitors Center, Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site (NPS), Atlanta, Georgia (USA). Museum about Martin Luther King, Jr., & the civil rights movement. Opened in time for the Olympic Games in the Summer of 1996.

1996 -- International Peace Fountain, Woodruff Park, Five Points, Peachtree Street and Auburn Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia (USA). Includes "Phoenix Rising from the Ashes" by Gamba Quirino (1967). "Commemorates Atlanta’s pivotal role in the world wide human and civil rights movement." Created in time for the Olympic Games in the Summer of 1996.

1996 - 228 Peace Memorial Park, Zhongzheng district, Taipei (Taiwan). Former Taihoku Park renamed in 1996. Contains the National Taiwan Museum, the Taipei 228 Memorial Museum, and a number of memorials to victims of the 228 Incident of 1947, including the National 228 Monument.

1996 - Himeji Historical Peace Centre, 475 Nishi-nobusue, Himeji, Nyogo Prefecture (Japan). Depicts World War II desruction and subsequent restoration of Himeji Castle (1580).

1996 - Jane Addams Memorial Park, 600 North Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois (USA). Honors Jane Addams [1860-1935], founder of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). Jane Addams [1860-1935] & Nicholas Murray Butler [1862-1947] shared the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize. Park includes black granite statue "Helping Hands" by Louis Bourgeois. Entry #272 in the "Peace Movement Directory" by James Richard Bennett (2001).

About 1996? - Peace Monument & White Rose, Courtyard, Palacio Nacional de la Cultura / National Palace of Culture, Guatemala City (Guatemala). Former National Palace. "They have a tradition concerning peace and a symbol of peace, the White Rose. To celebrate another day of peace in their country and the ever-fresh peace process, at about 11:30 AM, the Army Honor Guard, changes a white rose that has been placed on a monument in the court yard with another fresh white rose. The day old white rose, symbolizing 24 hours of peace, is then given to a guest of the country in a ceremony." NB: Guatemalan civil war lasted from 1960 until 1996.

July 18, 1996 - World Wall for Peace (WWFP), Little Five Points, Atlanta, Georgia (USA). A project of Partnerships in Peace (PIP). Created in time for the Olympic Games in the Summer of 1996. One of several WWFP's sponsored by World Wall for Peace, Berkeley, California (USA). Another WWFP is in nearby Nashville, Tennessee. Photo includes the PIP "Peace Mobile."

July 19, 1996 - Monumento a la Paz, Tegucigalpa (Honduras). "El monumento y cerro han sido parte de la vida de los capitalinos y ha tenido momentos oscuros y olvidados. Por años el sitio fue talado de sus árboles y victima de constante de fuegos, pero su situación esta cambiando. Un plan de renovación ideado por la Alcaldía Municipal del Distrito Central incluye su reforestación y la construcción de un megaparque. Sus propósitos son el rescate ecológico de este pulmón de la capital y brindar a Tegucigalpa un lugar de recreo para las familias."

October 11, 1996 - Memorial to Innocent Victims of Oppression, Violence and War, Courtyard, Westminster Abbey, London (England). Said to embody suffering on a scale before which ‘language stumbles and falls silent in the face of the horror and pity’, according to the Dean of Westminster, Michael Mayne, in his speech of dedication. One of 21 peace monuments named by the PPU website. Named in "A Peace Trail Through London" by Valerie Flessati (1998).

October 19, 1996 - Kingston Peace Park, 64 North Front Street (at Crown Street), Stockade Historic District, Kingston, Stockade Historic District, Ulster County, New York (USA). Apparently constructed on a small vacant lot (site of home of Jacobus S. Bruyn [1749-1823]) near historic center of town (which was fortified during the American Revolution). Connection to "peace" is unclear (except for a small, wooden plaque - right image - erected by supporters of Sri Chinmoy [1931-2007] to one side of the principle plaque designating this to be a "Peace Blossom Park"). /// Mural by Matthew Pleva on overlooking wall is entitled "The Hobgoblin of Old Dutch." /// Visited by EWL on April 20, 2017. /// FYI, Kingston became the first capital of New York state in 1777 but was almost immediately burned by British troops.

October 23, 1996 - Vaishali Peace Pagoda, Vaishali, Bihar (India).

October 26, 1996 - Civilian Public Service historical marker, Friends Center, 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA). "Commissioned by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission." Honors "some 12,000 men who were classified as conscientious objectors to war...during World War II."

November 1996 - World Wall For Peace (WWFP), Chapin Park, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (USA).

November 4, 1996 - World Peace Bell, City Hall, Ottawa, Ontario (Canada). Hung outdoors at first (left image). Later placed on floor overlooking central atrium (right image). Left image courtesy of WPBA. Right image by EWL 12August2012.