Mahatma Gandhi's bust to be inaugurated at UNHQ during India’s Presidency of Security Council next month

The bust, made by renowned Indian sculptor Padma Shree awardee Ram Sutar, who has also designed the 'Statue of Unity' in Gujarat, will be inaugurated on December 14

A bust of Mahatma Gandhi will be inaugurated as a gift from India to the United Nations during India’s presidency of the Security Council next month, the first sculpture of the Mahatma to be installed at the world body’s headquarters here.

The bust, made by renowned Indian sculptor Padma Shree awardee Ram Sutar, who has also designed the 'Statue of Unity' in Gujarat, will be inaugurated on December 14 during External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s visit to the UN for India’s presidency of the Council for the month.

India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj said told PTI in an interview here that the bust will be placed in the expansive North Lawns of the UN headquarters.

The bust, a gift from India, will be the first Gandhi sculpture that will be installed in the UN headquarters, which proudly displays gifts and artefacts from around the world.

Notable works of art at the UNHQ include a section of the Berlin wall donated by Germany, Soviet sculpture ‘Let us Beat Swords into Ploughshares’, life-size bronze statue of Nelson Mandela gifted by South Africa and the ‘Guernica’ tapestry after the painting Guernica by Pablo Picasso.

The only other gift from India on display at the UN Headquarters is an 11th century black-stone statue of ‘Surya’, the Sun God, donated on July 26, 1982.

The statue, dating from the late Pala period and which is currently displayed in the Conference Building, was presented as a gift by then Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi to the UN.