The Way of Human Rights (german: Straße der Menschenrechte) is a monumental outdoor sculpture in

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It was opened on 24 October 1993. It is sited on the street between the new and old buildings of the

Germanisches Nationalmuseum The Germanisches National Museum is a museum in Nuremberg, Germany. Founded in 1852, it houses a large collection of items relating to German culture and art extending from prehistoric times through to the present day. The Germanisches National ...

, connecting Kornmarkt street and the medieval

city wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

. In 1988, a twelve-person jury from the Germanisches Nationalmuseum held a design competition to decide on the artistic design of the Kartäusergasse street in Nuremberg. The winner was a proposal by Israeli artist

Dani Karavan Daniel "Dani" Karavan ( he, דני קרוון, 7 December 1930 – 29 May 2021) was an Israeli sculptor best known for site specific memorials and monuments which merge into the environment. Biography Daniel (Dani) Karavan was born in Tel A ...

consisting of a gate, 27 round

pillar A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

s made of white concrete, two pillars buried in the ground showing only a round plate, and one columnar

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

, for a total of 30 pillars. Engraved in each pillar is one article of the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, ...

in German and another language. The pillars are 8 metres in height, 80 cm in diameter, and spaced regularly at 5 metres along an axis. The north gate mirrors the medieval city gate located at the south end of the street. The site of project has a layered history, including the remnants of a monastery, the medieval city wall, buildings designed by

Sep Ruf Sep Ruf (full name Franz Joseph Ruf; 9 March 1908, in Munich – 29 July 1982, in Munich) was a German architect and designer strongly associated with the Bauhaus group. He was one of the representatives of modern architecture in Germany af ...

in the 1950s and 1960s, and a glass-enclosed entrance designed by the firm ME DI UM in 1993. This sculpture is part of Nuremberg's efforts to shake off its Nazi-era reputation as the "City of the Party Rallies" and reinvent itself as a "City of Peace and Human Rights". In 2001, Nuremberg was honored for this attempt at transformation with the

UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education The UNESCO/Bilbao Prize for the Promotion of a Culture of Human Rights, created in 1978 as the UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education to mark the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, serves to honour the ef ...

, the ''Way of Human Rights'' being specifically cited. The monument is intended as both a repudiation of past crimes and a permanent reminder that human rights are still regularly violated. Nuremberg's prize for human rights, the Nuremberg International Human Rights Award, is awarded on the site every two years.

References

External links

Menschenrechtsbüro Nürnberg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Way Of Human Rights Monuments and memorials in Germany Monumental columns in Germany Human rights Nuremberg Outdoor sculptures in Germany

See also

References

External links