In the Eastern side of the Public Lobby visitors can see
a stained-glass window designed by the French artist Marc
Chagall. It was a gift from United Nations staff members as
well as Marc Chagall himself, presented in 1964 as a memorial
to Dag Hammarskjold, the second Secretary-General of the UN,
and fifteen other people who died with him in a plane crash
in 1961.
The memorial, which is about 15 feet wide and 12 feet high,
contains several symbols of peace and love, such as the young
child in the center being kissed by an angelic face which
emerges from a mass of flowers. On the left, below and above
motherhood and the people who are struggling for peace are
depicted. Musical symbols in the panel evoke thoughts of Beethoven's
Ninth Symphony, which was a favourite of Mr. Hammarskjold's.
Copyright
© 2001 United Nations
