Palace of Nations and Broken Chair

The foundation stone of the Palace of Nations was laid in 1929, and the League of Nations moved in in 1936. Following the dissolution of the League of Nations in 1946, the building and its assets were transferred to the United Nations, and today it is the largest UN centre after the headquarters in New York. The 600-metre-long complex stands in the 46-hectare Ariana Park, bequeathed to the city by Gustave Revilliod. In the square in front of the Palace stands the Broken Chair, a 12-metre-tall wooden sculpture by Daniel Berset, erected in 1997 at the initiative of the organisation Handicap International. The chair with a broken leg calls on nations to sign the convention banning anti-personnel landmines.