In the run-up to the tenth world conference of ‘Religions for Peace’ in August 2019, a large wooden sculpture in the form of a standing Möbius strip was created in Lindau. The sculpture was designed by artist Gisbert Baarmann and constructed by timber engineer Hermann Blumer.

36 pieces of wood from all over the world

The work of art is seven and a half metres tall and made of larch wood, into which Baarmann has integrated 36 pieces of wood from all over the world (and from certified cultivation, of course). The artist explains: “The Möbius strip, a wooden circle in which inside and outside become one, is constructed from many individual elements that combine to form a special ring, a ring for peace. It is difficult to say whether the variety of types of wood is comparable to the variety of faiths. But the beauty of each type of wood can hardly be surpassed.”

According to the world conference, the ring as a ‘round whole’, ‘equal and absolute in itself’ symbolises the ‘complementary and mutually completing nature of the world religions, whose unity embodies the totality of consciousness’.

Federal President in Lindau

To mark the opening of the World Assembly, an interfaith and spiritual ceremony was held in Lindau at the Ring for Peace with all delegates and many guests on the island in Luitpoldpark. Federal President Frank Walter Steinmeier was also a guest; he personally inaugurated the sculpture. From this place, a greeting of peace from the religions went out to the whole world – which is why the Ring for Peace will now remain here permanently.