Reconciliation

I snapped this in the grounds of Stormont. It was designed by Josefina de Vasconcellos in 1977, the year I was married!
. It depicts a man and woman embracing and was originally entitled Reunion. Josefina said:
“The sculpture was originally conceived in the aftermath of the War. Europe was in shock, people were stunned. I read in a newspaper about a woman who crossed Europe on foot to find her husband, and I was so moved that I made the sculpture. Then I thought that it wasn’t only about the reunion of two people but hopefully a reunion of nations which had been fighting.”
Later it was named Reconciliation appropriate for this place I call home.
In 1995 (to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II) bronze casts of this sculpture were placed in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral, and in the Hiroshima Peace Park in Japan, and later, in Berlin and eventually here in the grounds of Stormont Castle in Belfast.
I pause to remember our violence one to another. May we learn to love!