Broken Chair Sculpture, Geneva

Broken Chair is a monumental sculpture in wood by the Swiss artist Daniel Berset, constructed by the carpenter Louis Genève. It is constructed of 5.5 tons of wood and is 12 metres (39 feet) high.It depicts a giant chair with a broken leg and stands across the street from the Palace of Nations, in Geneva. It symbolises opposition to land mines and cluster bombs, and acts as a reminder to politicians and others visiting Geneva.HistoryBroken Chair is an original project of Paul Vermeulen, co-founder and director of Handicap International Suisse. In October 1996 he commissionned to the artist a monumental chair of over 10 meters high, with a torn leg, to be installed on the place des Nations. The objective was to get the largest possible number of States to sign the Ottawa Treaty on landmines in December 1997. The sculpture was erected by Handicap International in front of the main entrance to the Palais des Nations in Geneva on the 18th of August 1997, where it was intended to remain for three months, until the signing of the Ottawa Treaty in December 1997 in Ottawa. Following ratification by 40 countries, the Treaty became effective as an instrument of international law on 1 March 1999.