Ravenna, Parco della Pace, scultura musiva colorata.
Ravenna, due sculture a mosaico del parco della pace.
Public art

Parco della Pace (lit. Peace Park)

La parete col mosaico di San Michele di Bruno Saetti.
La parete col mosaico di San Michele di Bruno Saetti.
Dettaglio con cavallo nel mosaico di Kournooukhov
Dettaglio con cavallo nel mosaico di Kournooukhov

The Peace Park was created Between the 1980s and 1990s. Is a place where brotherhood and peace among peoples is expressed through mosaic installations designed by the most renowned contemporary artists. The most part of mosaics were executed by the leading mosaicists of Ravenna together with the students of the Ravenna Academy of Fine Arts.

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History

It is an open-air museum, created at the wish of the International Association of Contemporary Mosaicists and the Municipality of Ravenna. The mosaic installations, signed by international artists, are set in a green public park, which embellishes a residential and educational area. It was inaugurated in 1988, when the Berlin Wall still existed. The theme that inspired the artists –chosen by Giulio Carlo Argan, Palma Bucarelli, Mario Manieri Elia, Achille Bonito Oliva and Pierre Restany– was ‘Peace and Friendship among Peoples’. In an interplay of interior paths, unevenness, green areas with shady plants, we can admire street furniture, floor mosaics, three-dimensional works, decorative walls.
The works are by: Claude Rahir (Untitled – Belgium), Coupe Margarett (An Atomic Free Pacific – New Zealand), Jerry W. Carter (The Second Genesis – USA), Alexander Kornooukhov (Man and Nature – Russia), Mimmo Paladino (Tree of Life – Italy), Bruno Saetti (San Michele – Italy), Josette Deru (Tree of Life – France), Edda Mally (The Wings of Peace – Austria), Ludwing Schaffrath (Germany), and since 1990 Untitled, the large stamp created by Akomena Spazio Mosaico of Ravenna. Since 2001 the park has been the subject of careful study and restoration, which has involved the Superintendencies for Architectural and Landscape Heritage of Ravenna and for Archaeological Heritage and the Mosaic Restoration School.

Must-see mosaic in this place

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La Seconda Genesi (lit. Second Genesis)

American artist Jerry Carter designed the work with the intention of drawing attention to man’s duty to preserve Life on Earth. The image is intended to recall the interconnection between Gaia, the earth, a living organism, and all other forms of life. In a concave structure, like a Byzantine apse, the artist has inserted three different elements. The River, referring to the philosopher Heraclitus, according to whom one cannot bathe twice in the same river, because everything changes. The Tree of Life, in the centre, luxuriant with glossy, enamelled colours, surrounded by clouds, symbolising the world as we know it. Finally, he represented the Soul of the Planet, the atmosphere, as a great celestial arch cutting through the sky. Carter wanted to address all people, regardless of their religion, political orientation or culture, with a prayer to stop all wars in the name of universal peace and the Salvation of Life.
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L'opera musiva La Seconda Genesi di Jerry Carter.

San Michele Arcangelo (lit. Saint Michael Archangel)

Designed by the Bolognese painter Bruno Saetti, it was conceived for another place, the Chapel of the Angels in Montepiano. The large mosaic was donated to the Municipality of Ravenna by his sons, to commemorate the artist’s death. On a wall of irregular stones, with a gabled roof, overlooking a small square in the shape of a semicircle, stands Saint Michael the Archangel towering over the sun. He is represented as a warrior angel crushing evil, symbolised by the black and red tesserae backgrounds. The large sun above him is a sign of divine light, which gives life and hope.
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Ravenna, Parco della Pace, dettaglio con testa e busto di San Michele Arcangelo di Bruno Saetti.

Un Pacifico libero dall’atomica (lit. An Atomic Free Pacific)

Margaret Coupe designed, on a long wall, this mosaic representing the atomic tests carried out off the coast of New Zealand, the artist’s homeland. In a sea with large waves and the silhouettes of gigantic whales, the first victims of radioactivity, we see a menacing warship, from which the stylised heads of men in uniform emerge. In the centre of the composition, immersed in a sea of green and blue tiles, stands a white sail with the symbol of peace.
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Dettaglio di mosaico in cui c'è una barca a vela in un mare di tessere.

 Le chaos et la source de vie

The Belgian artist Claude Rahir projected the fountain as a space to interact with.
It consists of two interpenetrating semicircles, with a large Carrara marble cube in the centre suspended over the water. The bare hemicycle recalls in its proportions the golden section, known as the divine proportion. The mosaic section, on the other hand, uses natural materials of various kinds (stones, pebbles, cobblestones, marble, artificial pipes) arranged according to patterns and paths reminiscent of Zen gardens. Rahir was very passionate about quantum physics, astrology and oriental philosophies. This enigmatic work is open to various interpretations. In 2021, it was restored to its splendour after careful restoration.
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Foto dall'alto della fonata di Claude Rahir al Parco della Pace.

Albero della vita (lit. Tree of Life)

It is a large floor mosaic, almost 25 metres by 12, designed by Mimmo Paladino. It is ideally a large square, with the purpose of collecting rainwater, the symbol of life. The theme is the Tree of Life, which runs through the entire composition. It is surrounded by symbolic figures reminiscent of prehistoric graffiti: a peacock, fish, a devil grabbing a human figure and other disturbing and mysterious silhouettes. The work bears the artist’s signature, mosaicised, and also the names of all the students of the Fine Arts Academy of Ravenna who participated in its realisation. A preparatory drawing of the large mosaic, by the artist’s own hand, is exhibited in the Contemporary Mosaic Declinations section at the Mar-Museum of Art of the city of Ravenna.
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Ravenna, Parco della pace, veduta dall'alto dell'Albero della Vita di Mimmo Paladino.

Location

Via Marzabotto, 1, 48124 Ravenna RA

More info

Every day: from 7.30 am to one hour before sunset

The area of the park is completely accessible.

Parco della Pace is located just outside the historical centre of Ravenna, near the hospital and the stadium.
By car: there are various parking areas around the park. For more information, click HERE.
By bus: the area is served by public transport. For more information: www.startromagna.it

Rotoballa davanti al Mar
Mosaic places

Explore the other work of Public Art of Ravenna

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