Non-Violence (sculpture)

Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd made this sculpture after the murder of John Lennon.[1] One copy was originally located at the Strawberry Fields memorial in Central Park. In 1988, Luxembourg donated it to the United Nations, and the sculpture was moved right outside of the headquarters of the UN.[2][3]

Since 1993, the sculpture has been the symbol of The Non-Violence Project (NVPF), a nonprofit organization that promotes social change through violence-prevention education programs.

In 2011, Ringo Starr unveiled his own brightly colored version of The Knotted Gun that he created.[4]

For the 30th anniversary of the sculpture, the NVPF and the art dealer Hansen Fine Art launched a foot-long version of the sculpture sold online.[5] The United Nations Postal Administration issued three stamps depicting the sculpture.[6] In 2019, the NVPF worked with the Dalai Lama to make 150 small-scale Non-Violence sculptures from melted confiscated guns (Humanium Metal), including one copy signed by the Dalai Lama and auctioned at Sotheby's.[7]

Non-Violence, or The Knotted Gun, is a bronze sculpture by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd of an oversized Colt Python .357 Magnum revolver with its muzzle tied in a knot. According to Kofi Annan, "it has enriched the consciousness of humanity with a powerful symbol that encapsulates, in a few simple curves, the greatest prayer of man; that which asks not for victory, but for peace."[3]»

The Museum of Sketches for Public Art in Lund (Sweden) holds a sketch of the firearm on which Reuterswärd noted that his grief at the murders of Lennon and Bob Crane inspired him to design this artwork.

There are currently 31 copies of the sculpture around the world. They are located in strategic places such as :

N°	Country	Photo	City	Location	Since
1	Sweden		Malmö	Bagers plats (original)	1985
2			Stockholm	Sergelgatan
3			Gothenburg	Kungsportsavenyen
4			Gothenburg	Göteborgs Högre Samskola Stampgatan
5			Gothenburg	Göteborgs Högre Samskola Föreningsgatan
6			Borås	Anna Lindh park
7			Lund	The Museum of Sketches
8			Täby, Stockholm County	Täby Centrum station
9			Fittja, Stockholm County	Fittja metro station
10			Stockholm	Åkeshov metro station
11			Halmstad	Brogatan
12			Halmstad	AJ Produkter Headquarter. Transportvägen[8]
13			Tällberg	Green Hotel. Ovabacksgattu 17[8]
14			Landskrona	Kasernplan
15	USA (original)		New York City	Headquarters of the United Nations	1988
16	Luxembourg (original)		Kirchberg	Parc Central
17	China		Beijing	Chaoyang Park
18			Nanjing	1865 Creative Park
19	Germany		Berlin	Federal Chancellery
20	France		Caen	Mémorial de Caen
21	Switzerland		Lausanne	Olympic Museum
22	South Africa		Cape Town	Victoria & Alfred Waterfront
23	Mexico		Mexico City	Mexipuerto Shopping Mall at Quatro Caminos Naucalpan
24			Mexico City	683 Calle Ferrocarril de Cuarnavaca Polanco
25	India		Chennai	Perambur, ICF
26	Georgia		Rukhi	Senaki - Leselidze Highway
27	Lebanon		Beirut	Seafront[9]	2018
28	Northern Ireland		Belfast	Girdwood Community Hub Gift from the Olsson family[10]	2019

• International Day of Non-Violence
• Nonviolence