Gandhi Bust to come up at UN headquarter

Gandhi Bust to come up at UN headquarter

Subject: International Relations

Context:

• A bust of Mahatma Gandhi will be inaugurated as a gift from India to the United Nations during India’s presidency of the Security Council next month,
• This will be the first sculpture of the Mahatma to be installed at the world body’s headquarters.
• It will be placed in the North Lawn,

Who had designed the current bust:

• The bust, is made by renowned Indian sculptor Padma Shree awardee Ram Sutar, who has also designed the ‘Statue of Unity’ in Gujarat,

What are some other notable works of art at the U.N. headquarters 

• A section of the Berlin wall donated by Germany,
• Soviet sculpture‘Let us Beat Swords into Ploughshares’,
• Life-size bronze statue of Nelson Mandela gifted by South Africa
• The ‘Guernica’ tapestry after the painting Guernica by Pablo Picasso.

What are the other gift of India on display

• The 11th century black-stone statue of ‘Surya’, the Sun God, was donated on July 26, 1982.
• The statue, dating from the late Pala period and which is currently displayed in the Conference Building, was presented as a gift by then Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi to the UN.
• Then Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar had accepted the sculpture on behalf of the United Nations.