The UN has been home to hundreds of pieces of art donated by Member States, foundations, and individuals since 1950. The newly launched Art Tour highlights some of these great works and provides context for their significance as a part of the art collection at the UN.
Beginning at the UN Plaza, the tour discusses sculptures on display, including Non-Violence by Carl Fredrick Reuterwärd, which Luxembourg gifted to the UN in 1988. It encapsulates the hope, not for victory, but for peace.
Tour participants will then walk through the Ark of Return by Rodney Leon, a permanent memorial to honour the enslaved persons who were victims of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
After the group makes its way to the General Assembly Lobby, visitors can admire the Foucault Pendulum, which gives visual proof of the rotation of the earth, as the French physicist Jean Foucault demonstrated in Paris in 1851. The sphere takes approximately 36 hours and 45 minutes to complete a cycle.
The tour then heads to the Meditation Room, donated by Sweden and Friends of the United Nations Marshall Field Foundation. The room opened in 1952 and was described as “a room dedicated to silence in an organization dedicated to the service of peace”.
Upstairs, on the third floor, the tour will continue to take an in-depth look at the art on display.
This includes the Zanetti Mural, donated by the Guggenheim Foundation, depicting "Mankind’s Struggle for Lasting Peace”, as well as the Norman Rockwell Mosaic symbolizing the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.
The Art Tour will bring visitors into the Security Council, Trusteeship Council, Economic and Social Council, and the General Assembly Hall, where the art and architecture of these rooms will be discussed, in addition to the purpose, role, and functioning of these main bodies of the United Nations.
As of 15 June, the Art Tour will take place at 1:15 pm every other Thursday, and upon request.
