Imagine Peace Tower

The Imagine Peace Tower (Icelandic: "," meaning "the peace column") is a memorial to John Lennon from his widow, Yoko Ono, located on Videy Island, off the coast of Reykjavík, Iceland. It consists of a tall "tower of light", projected from a white stone well 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".

Buried underneath the light tower are upward of 500,000 written wishes that Ono gathered over the years in another project, called "The Wishing Tree". 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. [http://apnews.excite.com/article/20071009/D8S5OBF00.html iExcite ] ]

The idea started in 1965 when Ono thought of the tower and presented the idea to Lennon, who expressed interest in creating it. 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.

In different languages

The words on the tower is written in 24 different languages. Here is an example of some of them:
*English: „Imagine peace“
*German: „Stell dir vor es ist Frieden“
*Icelandic: „Hugsa sér frið“
*Italian: „Immagina la pace“
*french: "Imagines la paix"

References

External links

* [http://www.imaginepeace.com/tower.html Official home page] of Imagine Peace Tower
* [http://visindavefur.is/svar.php?id=47440 "How far into the sky does the light from Yoko Ono's Peace Tower travel?"] at the University of Iceland's Science Web.