Yoko Ono’s Imagine Peace Tower lights up the sky above Reykjavik

The Imagine Peace Tower is located on the small island of Videy in Kollafjordur Bay near Iceland’s capital city, Reykjavik. The tower is a huge beam of light projected from a white stone monument in the form of a wishing well that has the words ‘Imagine Peace’ carved into it in 24 different languages.

The tower, as well as being a symbol for world peace, is a work of art dedicated to the memory of John Lennon by the world renowned artist, musician, and peace advocate Yoko Ono. The Imagine Peace Tower lights up the sky above Reykjavik every year between October 9th (John Lennon’s birth date) and December 8th (the date of his death) and this year Yoko Ono was in Reykjavik for the annual lighting ceremony.

The white stone monument is made up of 15 large searchlights encircled by numerous glass prisms that act like mirrors, reflecting the light vertically into the sky, usually reaching an altitude of at least 4000 meters. Buried underneath the wishing well style tower are over half a million written wishes that people from all around the world have sent to Yoko Ono over the years as part of another art project entitled ‘Wish Trees’.

Over the weekend in honor of the lighting ceremony, Yoko Ono offered free ferry crossings to Videy for the general public to attend and participate. She also invited everyone to attend a free John Lennon memorial concert that took place at Hafnarhusid in downtown Reykjavik last friday night.

For more details on the Peace Tower and last weekends events click here but for general information about holidays in Iceland visit www.visiticeland.com