Rotary Peace & Friendship Monuments "worldpeaceandunderstanding.org"
Continued at Rotary Peace Monuments from around the world
This section is dedicated to Rotary Peace Monuments and the desire of those who created them toward world peace. It was a passion of Rotary International Founder Paul P. Harris to convey the worth of promoting world peace. These monuments are our effort to visualize that promise.
This is a list of peace & friendship monuments only. To me, a "peace monument" is any physical and public object (usually but not necessarily outdoors), including a park or garden, which is named or dedicated for "peace." The list does NOT necessarily include other Rotary projects which contribute to peace, including so-called Rotary Peace Cities, although five of the 14 listed monuments (*as indicated with asterisks) are in cities said to be Rotary Peace Cities. Date is year of dedication (if known).
Also note that all information is unconfirmed and that Rotary's connection to each monument may vary, e.g. in some instances may be limited to the original idea or creation of the monument and not necessarily to present-day ownership or other on-going connection.
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Edward W. (Ted) Lollis, Knoxville, TN
37922, USA began this portion of our history website, the work is continued
by Germán Sintes Lluch, RGHF member from
ROTARY CLUB DE MAHÓN-MÔ, MENORCA-ESPAÑA district 2203.
Photo made Aug. 9, 2005, the 60th anniversary of the Nagasaki bomb, of Ted reading during a ceremony at the International Friendship Bell in Oak Ridge, TN.
| Peace Monuments in Europe |
Peace Monuments in North America Peace Monuments in South America |
Peace Monuments in Australia Peace Monuments in Asia |
Paul Harris' Friendship Trees |
Peace Monuments in Europe
Peace Monuments in Spain
"A la Amistad" by Frautino
Aizkorbe, Rotary Club gift to Valladolid, Spain, for its fourth century as a city, 1998.Peace Monuments in North America
Peace Monuments in the USA
International Peace Grove, Tilden Park, Berkeley, CA, USA, via Inspiration Point, 1955
Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, US/Canada, Glacier Park/Waterton Park, 1932
More on this project by Tom Davis
White Pines Park
Arnold-area residents are not giving up on peace just because some thug tore down their monument to global harmony. The Arnold Rotary Club dedicated a second peace pole in White Pines Park on Saturday morning. The first one, erected in September 2001, was cut down in July 2003. A suspect was never identified and the pole was not recovered. Bearing the message "May peace prevail on earth," in four languages, the new 16-foot pole was put in place before a crowd of about 35 people in the park's Rotary grove.
International Friendship Gardens & Peace Bell, Michigan City, Indiana, USA. Intl Friendship Gardens, 1933
*Peace Monument, Georgia, Milledgeville, USA.
*Rotary Peace City Monument, East Los Angeles, East LA Community College, CA, USA. 1996
Rotary Sundial, Mt. Evans, Colorado
The Peace Memorial was to have been dedicated by the 1940-41 RI President Armando de Arruda Pereira of Sao Paulo, Brazil, but inclement weather made the dedication impossible.Perhaps, fortuitously, the RI President who would serve for the Rotary year 1941-42, Thomas Davis of Butte, Montana was able to return to Colorado for the formal dedication.
A 40+ year old Rotary friendship garden in Evanston, IL
PEACE ISLAND, Saipan
Members of the Rotary Club of Saipan unveil the Rotary Peace Monument at the American Memorial Park as part of the group's effort to promote peace and understanding around the world.Peace Monuments in Canada
Rotary Peace Park, Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada, downtown on Yukon River
Rotary International Peace Park, Waterloo, ON, Canada, RIM Park, 2005
Rotary Peace Park, Parksville, BC, Canada, on Vancouver Island, 2004
Rotary Peace Monument, Canada-ON, Windsor, Roseland
The object of the monument is to bring together people in our community in the promotion of lasting peace through fellowship, international understanding and goodwill and encouraging and fostering respect for the life and dignity of every person. The Rotary Club of Windsor Roseland facilitates activities associated with the monument and the promotion of international peace in our community. Anna Jurak, PPRotary Club of Windsor Roseland
Rotary Peace Park, Vegreville, AB, Canada, near Ukrainian egg
International Peace Plaza, Saskatoon, SK, Canada, Rotary Park, 1998
Peace Monuments in Mexico
Plaza of Peace & Friendship, Mexico, Puerto Vallarta, Calle Irurbide, 1997
Monumento Rotario a la Paz, Mexico, Matamoros
An International Park between the U.S. and Mexico in the Big
Bend area of Texas, Chihuahua and Coahuila was
first proposed in 1935. Over 400 Rotarians from both districts helped to dedicate the project and encourage its completion when Past RI President Jim Lacy presided over a ceremony on Nov. 8, 1998 at Chamizal National Memorial.
Peace Monuments in South America
Uruguay
 
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MontevideoAmbassador Martin J. Silverstein and Hector Rubio Sica, president of the Rotary Club of Montevideo , laid flowers at the base of a monument and unveiled a new bust of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt Monday (April 12, 2004). The statue of Roosevelt, the 32nd U.S. president, had been destroyed with dynamite by terrorists in 1979. The bust of the late president was replaced by the Rotary Club in 1997, only to be stolen in 2002. Speaking before the small crowd, Rubio Sica said the Rotary Club's work in this project, "demonstrates that there is no specific reason for men to hate each other; that because of differences in cultures and races or for different reasons or bad interpretations, we have not reached a liberal understanding. We should find the precise formula to work successfully for universal peace. If we succeed in accomplishing this, the highest Rotarian aspirations will come true." |
Peace Monuments in Australia
Peace Monument, Ivan Jack Drive, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia. 1993
Peace Monuments in Asia
Peace Monuments in India
Chandigarh, India
(the city designed by French architect LeCoubusier)Peace Monuments in Japan
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This monument is engraved with the following words of Dr. Hideki Yukawa: "O god of evil, do not come this way again. This place is reserved for those who pray for peace." ("God of evil" means a god who brings calamity and bad luck.) When Dr. Yukawa, developer of the Neutron Theory, received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his achievement, he became the first Japanese recipient of a Nobel Prize. Dr. Yukawa was shocked by the US test of a hydrogen bomb in 1954 and thereafter continually appealed for the abolition of nuclear weapons and war. He sponsored for example, the Conference on Science and World Affairs (Pugwash Conference).
Dr. Yukawa said, "I am proud of the search for
truth and am confident of my abilities. I worked for that search
my entire life. I have no regrets. But when I heard what
happened in August 6, I knew that scientists must bear the
responsibility for what occurred." Source: Hiroshima Peace Site 
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Paul Harris' Friendship Trees Paul P. Harris, founder of Rotary International, and renowned spokesperson for world peace. "If we are not above indulging in flights of imagination, we may perchance find our usually staid and unemotional selves raised to a sense of exaltations as we contemplate the coming of the day when the genius of men will all be directed to constructive undertakings and the roar of cannons heard no more. merely a gesture to be sure, but dire have been the consequences of gestures of ill will and there have been an abundance of them. It is high time that there be more gestures of good will, and what better or more appropriate than the planting of trees, the living, growing hope of the realization of the highest concept known to man -- universal peace?" Paul Harris For more about the Friendship and Peace Monuments planted by the founder of Rotary see www.friendshiptrees.org |
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Menorca Airport - Spain |
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  The
Wellington Rotary Club (Florida, USA) has been extremely
active in the Rotary World Peace movement since 2002.
 A
chronology (lower left) leaves out numerous Rotary Humanitarian Grants, GSE
and other peace projects we have completed. It just shows the basic
evolution of our Wellington World Peace movement, which is based upon the
concepts of "world peace, conflict resolution and intercultural
understanding". We have been Florida's most active World Peace club and have helped numerous clubs plant peace poles and develop Rotary Peace Initiatives in their communities. Provided by RGHF member Dr. Wesley Boughner, 11 May 2011 |
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