“Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares” was sculpted in bronze by Russian-born Evgeniy Vuchetich and donated to the U.N. by the Government of the Soviet Union in 1959.

At the time, the United Nations Office of Public Information commented that the sculpture was: “symbolizing man’s desire to put an end to war and convert the means of destruction into creative tools for the benefit of all mankind.”

Although the sculptor is in the style of Socialist Realism (depictions of-supposed- communist values) from a country with an official ideology of atheism, the title of the work was derived from biblical references: Isaiah 2:4, Joel 3:10 and Micah 4:3.

That’s U Thant Island in the background.  

“Non-Violence” also known as “The Knotted Gun,” a bronze sculpture of an oversized .357 Magnum revolver tied in a knot, was inspired by the murder of John Lennon.  It was created by Swedish sculpture Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd and donated to the United Nations in 1988 by the government of Luxembourg.