The Hope for Peace (''Espoir de Paix'') Monument is a monument in

Yarze Yarze ( ar, يرزة) is a village in Baabda District southeast of Beirut in Lebanon. The headquarters of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense is located in Yarze. This facility includes the Lebanese Military Museum. In October 1990, following Gen ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

, made to celebrate the end of the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

in 1990. It was designed by the French-born American artist

Armand Fernandez Arman (November 17, 1928 – October 22, 2005) was a French-born American artist. Born Armand Fernandez in Nice, France, Arman was a painter who moved from using objects for the ink or paint traces they leave (''cachets'', ''allures d'objet'') to ...

. It is located near the

Ministry of National Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

. It was built in 1995. It is the official monument to commemorate the end of the civil war in Lebanon. The monument is unusual in that it contains 78 military vehicles, from a range of eras and nations. The monument resembles a bombed-out building, with the vehicles positioned in it. The guns of the tanks and military vehicles stick out of it, mostly pointing in one direction.Tribute To Peace Or Plain Tank Sandwich
/ref>

Construction

The various tanks and military vehicles were donated for the project by the Lebanese government. In the building of the monument, the former military hardware were welded to a large metal frame-structure. Large sandbags and concrete were combined together and then poured into the tall frame to create the overall appearance of the monument. It is constructed from 5,000 tons of concrete and stands 30 metres high. The tall memorial's range of decommissioned military vehicles comprises armoured personnel carriers (APCs), tanks, gun-trucks and self-propelled gun (SPG) vehicles, including Charioteer tank destroyers,

Sherman Firefly The Sherman Firefly was a tank used by the United Kingdom and some armoured formations of other Allies in the Second World War. It was based on the US M4 Sherman, but was fitted with the more powerful 3-inch (76.2 mm) calibre British 17- ...

, M-50 and M-51 Super Sherman,

T-55 The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet main battle tanks introduced in the years following the Second World War. The first T-54 prototype was completed at Nizhny Tagil by the end of 1945.Steven Zaloga, T-54 and T-55 Main Battle Tanks ...

and

M47 Patton The M47 Patton was an American main battle tank, a development of the M46 Patton mounting an updated turret, and was in turn further developed as the M48 Patton. It was the second American tank to be named after General George S. Patton, command ...

tanks, as well as Saladin armoured cars, a

BTR-152 The BTR-152 is a six-wheeled Soviet Union, Soviet armored personnel carrier (БТР, from Бронетранспортер/''BTR (vehicle), Bronetransporter'', literally "armored transporter"), built on the chassis and drive train of a ZIS-151 uti ...

wheeled APC, a

Panhard Panhard was a French motor vehicle manufacturer that began as one of the first makers of automobiles. It was a manufacturer of light tactical and military vehicles. Its final incarnation, now owned by Renault Trucks Defense, was formed ...

armoured car, an

AMX-13 The AMX-13 is a French light tank produced from 1952 to 1987. It served with the French Army, as the Char 13t-75 Modèle 51, and was exported to more than 26 other nations. Named after its initial weight of 13 tonnes, and featuring a tough and re ...

tank and a

Ferret armoured car The Ferret armoured car, also commonly called the Ferret scout car, is a British armoured fighting vehicle designed and built for reconnaissance purposes. The Ferret was produced between 1952 and 1971 by the UK company Daimler. It was widely ...

References

Monuments and memorials in Lebanon {{Lebanon-struct-stub