Peace Fountain
July 27, 2009 | Filed Under Cathedrals/Churches, Fountains, The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine
I hope you’re not getting tired of St. John the Divine and its surrounding but there’s lot to see there. Next to the cathedral, you’ll find the Children’s Sculpture Garden and one of the things you’ll see is the Peace Fountain. This is a combination of a bronze sculpture and fountain. At the moment, there’s no running water in the fountain. I’m not sure why.
The sculpture represents and celebrates triumph of Good over Evil. It depicts opposite forces such as violence and harmony, light and darkness, life and death. You’ll see Archangel Michael triumphant over Satan.
You’ll also see depictions of the Sun, the Moon, and animals like a giraffe, crab, lion and lamb, which all have symbolic and Biblical interpretations.
Normally you’ll also find at least one live peacock roaming around the fountain. However, I haven’t seen any there in a long time. I don’t know why. Don’t know what happened to them.
Paz
Ed. Note: Laura left a comment that she visited the Peace Garden the day before this post and she saw the peacock. Yay! I’m glad he’s still around. Thanks for letting us know, Laura.
Bobbie wondered about children’s reaction to the sculpture. From what I’ve seen they do not have a negative reaction. The kids I’ve seen around the sculpture are happy. I’ve seen them playing and running around. I’m sure they have questions and interesting comments….
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15 Responses to “Peace Fountain”
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Paz: That is a neat statue and thanks for sharing its meaning.
Very cool sculpture!
I appreciate your tour of St. John’s since I have never been there. Thanks Paz!
PS I just had a good LOL after reading what you wrote about taking the subway on Mari’s blog! Very funny.
Such a beautiful fountain!
Cheers,
rosa
It’s a part of NYC I’ve never seen before so I’m enjoying it. It’s a beautiful place!
No way. The place is fantastic, and I today’s post has a really interesting sculpture. I like it a lot. Thanks for explaining it too. Cool!
What a strange sculpture! Neat, though – and thanks for the explanation.
This is a nice sculpture. Don’t see many like that anywhere around here.
I’m enjoy seeing your photos, Paz, so that I’ll know a lot about the cathedral when I visit it! Did you ever go to services there? I’d love to go to the Blessing of the Animals someday, but I know I’d never be able to get an admission ticket to such a popular event.
St. John the Devine is definitely one of the most beautiful churches in NYC. I went there a couple years ago with friends from out-of-town. What a spectacular place.
I’d be interested to know how little children react to this particular sculpture.
There is so much in there! I’ll bet you can spend hours looking at it and still not see everything!
Wonderful photos…I was there yesterday for the first time….fantastic to see….
There was a peacock strutting about =)
thanks for sharing
Paz,
What an incredible piece of architecture this building is… and the grounds are magnificent! Thanks for sharing this historical and amazing place!
Thanks for stopping by, everyone!
And thanks, Laura for letting me know that you DID see the peacock. I’m glad he’s still around. Do you remember what time you saw him?
Paz
Wonderful sculpture, and you’ve written a very good explanation of its meaning.