My visit to the Red Cross Museum
After my US and East Asia class with Dr. Xiang on Friday morning, I wandered in the general direction of where signs indicated the UN should be. I first saw the World Intellectual Property Organization from afar and mistook it for the UN offices since it was flying the UN flag. I think it is somehow affiliated with the UN, in any case.
I finally did find the UN headquarters in Geneva, but was turned away at the first gate I approached, and later found I could only take a guided tour of the gardens, for 12 CHF. Hmph! I think my ability to freely visit and photograph their gardens has got to be guaranteed somewhere in the universal declaration of the rights of man! (If you want to help me build my case, see Article 24 and Article 27, section 1, for starters.)
The International Committee of the Red Cross headquarters (their website in english ou bien en français) was just across from the UN garden, so I went to their free museum instead.
The red cross and red crescent at the entrance. Prof. Djalili, my Middle East and Central Asian Geopolitics professor, explained in class that the crescent is NOT to Islam what the cross is to Christianity. I imagine it was just the best idea someone came up with at the time when confronted with the dubious nature of the cross for a neutral organization trying to operate among Muslims.
"Everyone is responsible for everyone else, before anything else." --Dostoevsky
A statue commemorating Henry Dunant, recognized as the founder of the Red Cross, as he writes a book about the horrors he witnessed at the battle of Solferino (1859) and calls for a treaty/organization to care for the wounded. The quotation on the wall is from an important passage in his book. Those two words, "les blessés", means "the wounded". For more about him and the creation of the red cross, go here.
Henry Dunant was awarded many medals for his efforts, including the first Nobel Peace Prize.
I finally did find the UN headquarters in Geneva, but was turned away at the first gate I approached, and later found I could only take a guided tour of the gardens, for 12 CHF. Hmph! I think my ability to freely visit and photograph their gardens has got to be guaranteed somewhere in the universal declaration of the rights of man! (If you want to help me build my case, see Article 24 and Article 27, section 1, for starters.)
The International Committee of the Red Cross headquarters (their website in english ou bien en français) was just across from the UN garden, so I went to their free museum instead.
The red cross and red crescent at the entrance. Prof. Djalili, my Middle East and Central Asian Geopolitics professor, explained in class that the crescent is NOT to Islam what the cross is to Christianity. I imagine it was just the best idea someone came up with at the time when confronted with the dubious nature of the cross for a neutral organization trying to operate among Muslims.
"Everyone is responsible for everyone else, before anything else." --Dostoevsky
A statue commemorating Henry Dunant, recognized as the founder of the Red Cross, as he writes a book about the horrors he witnessed at the battle of Solferino (1859) and calls for a treaty/organization to care for the wounded. The quotation on the wall is from an important passage in his book. Those two words, "les blessés", means "the wounded". For more about him and the creation of the red cross, go here.
Henry Dunant was awarded many medals for his efforts, including the first Nobel Peace Prize.
posted by Ben at 5:02 PM
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