Content Middle
Main Content
.2,000 Years Varus Battle – a Retrospective
The Symbols Will Stay
The campaign FELDZEICHEN ZU FRIEDENSZEICHEN (TURNING ROMAN STANDARDS INTO PEACE SYMBOLS) opened »2,000 Years Varus Battle«. During the many sessions of this campaign, more than 10,000 citizens from the county of Osnabrück individually designed 2,000 peace symbols. Their appearance is based on Roman army standards, and they decorated Kalkriese’s museum park in January. Staged in an impressive laser show, these peace symbols created a stunning atmosphere in the museum’s park.
Later on, they traveled on as »ambassadors of peace« and can now be found all over the county of Osnabrück. 27 peace symbols – one for each member country of the European Union – could also send their peace message from their locations in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg and Deutscher Bundestag in Berlin.
Even 2001 years after the Varus Battle, the journey of the peace symbols continues. Under the title »Dem Frieden gewachsen?!« (»Being up to peace?!«), 194 of the peace symbols with peace-related quotes from 193 member nations of the United Nations as well as the Vatican will send out their peaceful message during the Landesgartenschau (State Garden Show) at Bad Essen. From March 16, 2010 onward, the 194 steles will be set up as attractions in two locations: in Bad Essen’s town center with its historical churchyard and on the Georgswiese near Ippenburg Castle. There they will remind us of the nations’ shared responsibility for peace on this planet.
Responsible for concept and design of these modern army standards is Osnabrück-based artist Volker Johannes Trieb. Thanks to the unremitting dedication of many youth workshops, in particular that of Brücke Bramsche e. V., the dedication of schools as well as towns and communities, these symbols could unfold their power as signposts of peace.