THIS BELL inscribed in English & German with the word – PEACE FRIEDE was presented to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, by Richard von Weizsacker, President of the Federal Republic of Germany during the Service of Reconciliation on the 50th Anniversary of the bombing of Coventry. November 14th 1990~*

*Quoted from a sign beneath the bell

Thornflower has its roots deep in the artist’s childhood in Prague (which she left in 1939) in happy memories of her grandmothers’ home “Das Rosel Haus (the house of rose)” and in the death of her grandmother in Treblinka in 1942.

It is a reflection not only on the Nazi Holocaust but on “man’s inhumanity” across history, representing, in Charlotte Mayer’s own words “an urgent wish to make a sculpture uniting opposing elements of thorns and flowers, to speak of reconciliation, peace and oneness”.

Roses and thorns are never far apart in life, but it is the beauty of the rose that we remember.*

*from a signboard next to the artwork

*On Angel Wings is due to descend on 14th October [2020] *

On Angel Wings is an installation that came into being following discussion on how we could offer the community a space to commemorate those who had been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As we slowly reopen following a turbulent 2020 and start to 2021, we realised people had been affected by this in more ways than we ever could have originally anticipated. What we wanted, was to provide people with the opportunity to be awed and provoke thought as well as allowing people an outlet; somewhere to palpably show their appreciation and respect.

Inspired by the installation in 2020 by our friends at Ripon Cathedral ‘On a Wing and a Prayer’, angels seemed like the perfect way to honour those who had served relentlessly throughout, those who had lost their lives, those whose lives had been disrupted and those who had fought to get through one of the toughest times they had known. An idea was devised to hang origami angels, each with dedications to loved ones, in the Abbey; therefore each angel representing someone or a group of people precious and cared about by someone else.

We contacted the Verger at Ripon Cathedral to help with the logistics of how we could go about hanging multiple thousands of origami angels in a 1,300 year old building, which had not had ease of access to the rafters built into planning and design! After much deliberation and consultation of architects, conservation engineers, rigging teams and planning committees, we realised this was a real possibility and the plan was put into action!

The resulting project is ‘On Angel Wings’; 4,500 origami angels, made by local schools, volunteers, Abbey staff and members of the public, suspended 45ft high in the Chancel of the Abbey. The angels stretch right to the High Altar from the start of the Old Choir Stalls and are lit from the sides. The angels are high enough that dedications can’t be read from the ground; keeping those memories and thoughts private but still present; much like a prayer.

I visited the Abbey in September 2021. I was blown away by the visual impact of the installation.

Jimi Hendrix

John 14.27

And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there is in the world.

Etty Hillesum

Inspired by the wartime story of Sadako Sasaki, Attingham park decorated their Picture Gallery tree this year with origami cranes to symbolise peace and hope.

In Japanese folklore, cranes have a special significance and are said to live for 1,000 years. A legend promises that anybody who fold 1,000 paper cranes will be granted a wish.

Sadako Sasaki was a young girl in Japan who was exposed to radiation after an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. She developed Leukaemia and when is hospital began folding paper cranes, trying to reach 1,000 so that her wish could e granted. She wished for peace and a world without nuclear weapons.

Every year at the Children’s Peace Monument in Hiroshima, schoolchildren leave their own origami cranes in memory of Sadako and the thousands of children who were victims of the atomic bomb.*

*from an information board next to the tree

William Ellery Channing

When the Venetians came to Piran at the end of the 13th Century, they built the Town Hall building near the harbour and outside the town walls present at that time. It was constructed in the Roman-Gothic style; its façade was full of immured coats of arms and inscriptions. It was demolished in the year 1877. Apart from the old Town Hall, they also demolished the overpass that was connecting the building with the ancient Loggia. The new Town Hall was finished two years later.

In the central axis on the second floor you can see an immured stone statue of a lion holding an open book as a memento of the Venetian Serenissima Republic and the old Town Hall building. The Venetian lion with the book was immured in the majority of the important town buildings: an open book meant peace, and a closed one war.

The stone statue of a lion with an open book is a common feature in this region of Slovenia. Above is a picture another stone carving tucked away just off the square in Piran.

And this picture features a stone lion with an open book in the nearby town of Koper.