The Spirit of Peace

I heard about a monument that essentially was honoring the orizuru (the traditional paper crane). I followed the vague directions and found a place called Lyndale Park and more specifically, the Peace Garden. There I discovered quite a bit of garden, all quite beautiful.

Then off to the left I noticed a statue surrounded by fourteen stones. The statue is a column of stages in the folding process, starting with the Preliminary Base, to the Bird Base to the completed crane. There are six stages, one on top of the other.

Each stone has a plaque embedded in it. There are diagrams with instructions guiding the folder as they circle the statue.

The whole piece is titled The Spirit of Peace and was designed by Caprice Glaser. It is a part of the worldwide effort to honor peace and remember the horrors of the atomic bomb. It was the story of Sadako Sasaki that brought such a union between origami and peace together, and the monument is to honor her as well.

I recommend that you visit Lyndale Park. If you do, they have origami paper in something like a mailbox so that you can fold your own crane!

[These pictures are my own, taken of The Spirit of Peace designed by Caprice Glaser and owned by the city of Minneapolis]