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Published: August 13th 2011
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Beijing, China
It can be seen in Caoyang Park A blog entry dedicated to the gun with the knot on the barrel
This blog entry is slightly different from the ones we normally write. We hope you still find it interesting to read.
Outside the UN building in New York there is a sculpture of a gun with a knot on the barrel. The sculpture is named
Non-Violence and is created by the Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd. There are many copies of this sculpture on display in various cities in the world and for the last couple of years we have photographed some of them. Here in this blog entry we have collected the photos we have gathered so far.
The photos are listed in alphabetical order according to the country they can be found in. Photos where it makes no sense to specify a country either because the sculpture or picture was temporary and might not exist anymore or where the sculpture is in private possession and thus can't be visited we have placed last.
Most of the copies of this statue can be found in various cities and towns in Sweden. There are four versions of it
Caen, France
Outside the museum Mémorial de Caen in or near Stockholm and there are three copies in Gothenburg and two in Halmstad. But also some cities outside of Sweden have their own copies, for instance Beijing, Berlin, Caen and New York.
Some of the photos featured in this blog are for one reason or another worth mentioning here in the text.
Zugdidi, Georgia: That sculpture is not an official copy of the Non-Violence sculpture. It is better seen as an homage to the original made by a local artist. The town Zugdidi is right next to Abchasia, a region which claims to be an independent country but is not recognised as such by the rest of the world. To enter Abchasia you need a special permit, a passport valid for travel in Georgia is not enough. The sculpture stands in a no man's land next to the road which links Zugdidi with Abchasia. To see it we had to leave our passports at the immigrations office on the Georgian side of the "border" before entering the strip of land which separates Georgia and Abchasia.
Berlin, Germany: This copy of the sculpture is in a park which is closed
Zugdidi, Georgia
It can be seen close to the border to Abchasia, next to the bridge. to the public. Most days only the Chancellor of Germany and people working for him or her may enter the park.
Borås, Sweden: Most of the Non-Violence sculptures are revolvers. This is a pistol instead of a revolver.
Halmstad, Sweden: There are two copies of Non-Violence in Halmstad, Sweden. One of them is indoors in the company JA Produkter's headquarter. It can easily be viewed through the windows during hours when the office isn't open.
Landskrona, Sweden: This is not a weapon with a knot on the barrel, it is a chimney with a knot on it. When they opened a new thermal power station they installed modern technology to reduce the environmental impact. To advertise that they have this new technology they asked for permission to use "knot on the barrel" symbol. The permission was granted and it may be argued that this is not only an homage to Non-Violence but actually a true copy of it.
Geneva, Switzerland: This is not an official copy of Non-Violence. The sculpture is called Frieden and it is inspired by Non-Violence. One more interesting detail is that the weapon is
Berlin, Germany
This version of Non Violence stands in a fenced off park to which the public don't have access a howitser instead of a revolver.
The tattoo is actually an official copy. We met the man by chance one day and asked him if we could take a photo of it for this blog entry. He explained that before he had the tattoo made he asked for permission to have it made. Permission was granted which in our books makes it an official copy of Non-Violence.
There are several more versions of the Non-Violence sculpture. Supposedly the gun with the knot on the barrel is also on displayed in the following towns and cities: Nanjing, Lausanne and Cape Town. There is also one more in Landskrona. When we visit any of these cities we will add a photo of it to this blog entry.
According to the French Wikipedia there are also copies of the sculpture in Miami, Liverpool, Curitiba, Honolulu, Marl and Lyon. There might also be non-offical copies in Phnom Penh and in Bayreuth.
If you know of any copy of the Non Violence sculpture we haven't heard of, please write a comment further down. There is no complete list of all official copies of
Non-Violence. At least none that we know of.
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Harvey
non-member comment
Good Guns or Bad Guns
A friend of mine was an agent for a small arms (pistols and rifles) manufacturer. He was making sales to the BENELUX countries. His neighbors criticized him as if he was a war monger. He replied, The next time an aggressor comes to occupy us, do you want our soldiers to have good weapons or inferior weapons?