Invitation to citizens of Sri Lanka to colour Dove of World Peace

Alongside the sketch of the Peace Dove that should be coloured, the first photograph on the right shows a child holding a completed painting of the dove while the second photograph shows a bright reddish version from Romania. In the last photograph on the right the current German President Frank Walter Steinmeier and German politician Gesine Schawn hold the bronze sculpted Peace Dove. There are at present 30 Peace Doves ‘flying’ across the world with their respective peace ambassadors

The collage of pictures shows the Peace Dove being breathed artistic life into by children in different parts of  the world

A nature-based version of the Peace Dove coloured by a European artist

The given image is of the outline of the Peace Dove by German conceptual artist Richard Hillinger. This image is to be developed into world peace post cards after they are coloured by different citizens of the world. We especially ask children to cut out this image and colour it as they wish, choosing a combination of colours of their choice. The coloured and cut up peace dove frame can be posted to: The Galerie – Richard Hillinger, Am Alten Viehmarkt 5, 84028 Landshut, Germany. Alternatively, it can be posted to the below mentioned Sri Lankan address: Global Residential Library of Healing, No, 69/3, Lady Macculum Road, Hawa Eliya, Nuwara Eliya. 

The first of the postcards created from the Peace Dove images from Sri Lanka will be posted out from the iconic Nuwara Eliya post office, one of the oldest colonial buildings and tourism hubs in the city. The world peace post card initiative engages children, youth and adults from around the world and so far has had the involvement of citizens of Germany, Romania and Ukraine.

The artist Richard Hillinger and Frances Bulathsinghala, the collaborating peace activist from Sri Lanka plans to post out the images developed into post cards to all dignitaries previously associated with the sculpted peace dove and those the artist is currently in affiliation with. The world peace post cards will carry messages of peace from the children and adults painting the dove. There will be specific Sri Lankans personally invited to take part in this initiative, on account of their background pertaining to authentic peace promotion. Artists from Jaffna in the North of

 Sri Lanka, who teach art to children will be part of this endeavour. 

On 15 February this year, we published an interview with the German artist who introduced an art-based global peace diplomacy initiative – where ‘doves of peace’ – sculptured bronze doves have been sojourning the world for over 25 years. 

Sculptured by German conceptual artist Richard Hillinger, the peace doves have traversed across the globe and received by notable figures – such as the Dalai Lama, the Pope, President Barak Obama, Chancellor Angela Merkel and institutions such as the European Parliament and Amnesty International. 

During the tenure of German President Roman Herzog, from 1994 to 1999, the Peace Dove project was first introduced from Germany to the world, and backed by President Herzog the initiative grew as a worldwide endeavour, positioning Germany as a champion of world peace. In 2008 on the 60th anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, Richard Hillinger sculptured 30 bronze doves symbolising each article of the UN Human Rights Charter. Not restricted merely to famous personalities, the doves have since then been part of the world peace psyche as they have ‘flown’ around the world, accompanying the travels of diverse individuals. A bronze peace dove ‘flew’ from Germany to Sri Lanka in 2024 January with Sylvia Nussbaum, a former Air Hostess and champion of humanity.

The photograph below shows the current German President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier who first assumed office in 2017, holding the bronze sculpture of the peace dove with German politician and academic, Gesine Schwan. 

Currently, as we continue to see wars in the world kept aflame, and lives lost, the need for peace related sensitivity and awareness is a dire need, especially among youth and children who are the inheritors of this world. In this backdrop the Harmony Page has joined hands with Richard Hillinger and his Art Gallery in Germany where the peace dove sketched by him is to be flown once again in a new avatar of world peace postcards. 

The collaborator in Sri Lanka for this initiative is the global residential library of healing being set up in Nuwara Eliya linking world peace, youth backpacker tourism, bibliotherapy and earth healing. 

The Harmony Page invites Sri Lankan adults and children alike to fill the interior of the below published peace dove with any contrast of colours, and post it to the below mentioned German or Sri Lankan addresses. This print version of the dove has so far been coloured by children in several countries including Germany, Ukraine and Romania. 

This initiative will be further linked to the Destination Sri Lanka Travel Magazine 2025 – 2026 published by Neptune Publishers where one of the main themes include Tourism for World Peace. 

“Art belongs to the world and to ordinary citizens. The media plays a massive role in carrying the message of peace to the world and it is my pleasure to have the Weekend FT of Sri Lanka being the first newspaper to join in this latest peace dove endeavour,” noted the German artist Richard Hillinger who is currently meeting with German based art enthusiasts, officials and diplomats to take the world peace dove colouring to the realm of world leaders. 

“A world leader is a human who is responsible for the lives and wellbeing of many citizens and such a personage akin to the rest of humankind can use art as a means of taking a vow of peace. In the year 2026 the print version of the peace dove would hopefully be in the hands of world leaders across the globe and coloured by them. These will be duly turned to world peace postcards,” explained Richard. 

“I invite all Sri Lankans to write your one lined message of peace to the world if you so wish. You are also free to place your name, address and email address, neatly in a free spacing within the picture frame. We hope to complete the printing of the postcards by January 2026 and have the paintings of the dove painted by many global citizens as possible by then through different art camps in schools and other locales,” he said. 

Meanwhile a bronze peace dove will be ‘caught’ from whatever location it is in at the moment and will be ‘flown’ in once again to Sri Lanka by October where it will perch at the residential library in Nuwara Eliya and then be present at the launch of the Destination Sri Lanka travel magazine dedicated to innovative tourism policy in Sri Lanka and to world peace through tourism. 

The Peace Dove initiative from Germany which has been continuing for around 25 years is one of the longest ongoing social-peace-art endeavours in the world.

For the full interview with Richard Hillinger carried out earlier this year please click the following link: https://www.ft.lk/harmony_page/25-years-of-flight-around-the-world/10523-773065.