Wooden bear · Welcome to the Nobel Prize Laureate Collection

ID-nummer

2008.004.001

Titel

Wooden bear

Objektkategori

Konst

Publik beskrivning

For a long time this wooden bear stood on the writing desk from which Martti Ahtisaari, as President of Finland, diplomat, and peace negotiator, worked to promote a more peaceful world. It was a gift to him from disabled soldiers injured during the Russo-Finnish War of 1939 to 1940. The bear was made by war veteran Väinö Kekkonen from Karelia, the district from which Ahtisaari was forcibly evicted as a small boy during the war. The lives of the disabled soldiers who tried to defend Karelia did not always turn out as well as Ahtisaari’s life. “The bear symbolizes Finland. And perhaps also me,” explained Ahtisaari.

Martti Ahtisaari donated the wooden bear to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2008.

Pristagare

Martti Ahtisaari

Mått

Depth: 6 cm Circumference: 14 cm

Provenance

539 Nobel Museum Temporary