Imagine Peace Tower

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Coordinates: 64°9′47.66″N 21°51′34.08″W / 64.1632389°N 21.8594667°W / 64.1632389; -21.8594667

The Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland.

Imagine Peace message.

The Imagine Peace Tower (Icelandic: Friðarsúlan, meaning "the peace column") is a memorial to John Lennon from his widow, Yoko Ono, located on Viðey Island, off the coast of Reykjavík, Iceland. It consists of a tall "tower of light", projected from a white stone monument which has the words "Imagine Peace" carved into it in 24 languages. These words, and the name of the tower, are a reference to Lennon's peace anthem, Imagine. The Tower consists of six searchlights with mirrors which act as prisms, reflecting the column of light vertically into the sky from a 10-metre wide wishing well. It often reaches cloudbase and indeed can be seen penetrating the cloud cover. On a clear night it appears to reach an altitude of at least 4000m. The power for the lights is provided by Iceland's unique geo-thermal energy grid.^[1]

Buried underneath the light tower are upward of 500,000 written wishes that Ono gathered over the years in another project, called "Wish Trees". Ono plans to have the tower lit every year from 9 October, Lennon's birthday, through 8 December, the date he was shot. Iceland was selected for the project because of its beauty and its eco-friendly use of geothermal energy.^[2]

Construction of the tower started on 9 October, 2006 when Ono dedicated the location, and it was officially unveiled on the same date in 2007. In attendance with Ono were son Sean Lennon, bandmate Ringo Starr, and Olivia Harrison, widow of George Harrison, and Olivia's son Dhani Harrison. Paul McCartney was invited, but could not attend due to a court case. Yoko Ono said on the day of the inauguration that the tower was the best thing that she and John had ever done.

The ceremony was broadcast internationally to numerous television networks.

An additional panel reads:

I dedicate this light tower to John Lennon

my love for you is forever

yoko ono

October 9th 2007

[edit] In different languages

The words on the tower are written in 24 different languages:

English: IMAGINE PEACE	Swahili: TUFIKIRIENI AMANI
Japanese: 平和な世界を想像してごらん	Icelandic: HUGSA SÉR FRIÐ
Korean: 평화를 꿈꾸자	Turkish: BARIŞI DÜŞLE
Chinese: 想像和平	Persian: "Imagine peace"
Arabic: احلم سلام	Filipino: ILARAWAN ANG MUNDONG MAPAYAPA
Hebrew: חלום שלום	Tamil: சமாதானத்தை நினையுங்கள்
Russian: ПРЕДСТАВЬТЕ СЕБЕ МИР	Hungarian: KÉPZELD EL A BÉKÉT
German: STELL DIR VOR ES IST FRIEDEN	Georgian: წარძოიდგინეთ ძშკიდობა
Italian: IMMAGINA LA PACE	Tibetan: ཞི་བ་སྒོམས་
French: IMAGINEZ LA PAIX	Portuguese: IMAGINA A PAZ
Spanish: IMAGINA LA PAZ	Inuktitut: ᓴᐃᒪᖃᑎᒌᑦᑕ