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www.worldpeaceandunderstanding.org

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 section was originated, and now edited by Ted Lollis, of Knoxville, TN, USA

Also see the following sections:

Rotary Peace & Friendship Monuments

"A la Amistad" by Frautino Aizkorbe, Rotary Club gift to Valadolid, Spain, for its fourth century as a city, 1998. International Peace Grove, US-Calif N, Berkeley, Tilden Park via Inspiration Point, 1955 Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, US/Canada, Glacier Park/Waterton Park, 1932 More on this project most forward Rotarian, Tom Davis International Friendship Gardens & Peace Bell, US-Indiana, Michigan City, Intl Friendship Gardens, 1933
*Peace Monument, US-Georgia, Milledgeville Plaza of Peace & Friendship, Mexico, Puerto Vallarta, Calle Irurbide, 1997 International Peace Plaza, Canada-SK, Saskatoon, Rotary Park, 1998 Monumento Rotario a la Paz, Mexico, Matamoros
*Rotary Peace City Monument, US-Calif S, East Los Angeles, East LA Community College, 1996 *Peace Monument, Australia-NSW, Wagga Wagga, Ivan Jack Drive, 1993 Rotary Peace Park, Canada-Yukon, Whitehorse, Downtown on Yukon River Rotary International Peace Park, Canada-ON, Waterloo, RIM Park, 2005
*Rotary Peace Park, Canada-BC, Parksville, On Vancouver Island, 2004 Rotary Peace Park, Canada-AB, Vegreville, Near Ukrainian egg Chandigarh, India (the city designed by French architect LeCoubusier)  “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.
View from the Top of Mt. Evans, Colorado
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. 
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, PP
Rotary Club of Windsor Roseland

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. Ambassador 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.”

Rotary Club members and Ambassador Silverstein pose in front of new FDR bust.

PEACE ISLAND... 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. A 40+ year old Rotary friendship garden in Evanston, IL

picture of the day

Statue of Peace "New Leaves"

Completed: May 9, 1966 - Built by: Hiroshima South District Rotary Club

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."
The statue of a child standing next to a deer was made by sculptor Katsuzo Entsuba who was born in Mitsugi-cho, Hiroshima Prefecture.

Source: Hiroshima Peace Site

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

Friendship and Peace Monuments planted by the founder of Rotary who believed that neighborliness alone would do more than treaties and contracts.

www.friendshiptrees.org

Asia Australia North America Europe South America

"They would like to think well of us; in fact, nothing could give them greater happiness than to believe sincerely that the "Colossus of the North" is really a friendly, kindly Colossus who would not intrude upon their rights as members of the family of nations, who would consider South American countries by reason of their position it the western hemisphere entitled to the friendly appellation which our present Roosevelt has given them, "Our neighbors on the South".

I like the term neighbor and always did. I like it so well that I have for years had a wood sign permanently attached to my house near the front door overlooking our friendship garden. The bears the legend, "Neighborliness makes for Happiness" and so it does. Neighborly people are happy people, while those who keep shut within their own walls are likely to be the  very opposite.

The world has been hearing quite enough of international pacts, treaties and agreements. The have more frequently led to war than war than from it." www.paulharrishome.com

A photograph of the bust Paul Harris put up in Bangalore in the centennial year.      
     
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.

This list is in no particular order.  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.

Edward W. (Ted) Lollis, Knoxville, TN 37922, USA

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Edward W. Lollis began this portion of our history website.

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.
 

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