This monument, Le Mur de Paix, sits at the Ecole Militaire end of the Champ-de-Mars opposite the Eiffel Tower. The artist is writer Clara Halter, the wife of famous philosopher/writer/painter Marek Halter, and it was erected in 2000. She displays the word, “peace," on the monument in 32 languages and 13 alphabets. It was only supposed to stay in this location for several months and then be moved to in front of the UNESCO building in another Paris neighborhood. However, it is still there and I’ve walked by or near it every time I’ve been in the Eiffel neighborhood since 2000.The neighbors have complained—they say it blocks their view, which is very hard to believe since it is only 52 feet in length, 43 feet wide, and 30 feet in height. And neighbors? What neighbors? The Champ-de-Mars is a very long field—a former training ground for the French army—sitting between the Eiffel and the Ecole Militaire (a military school—Napoleon’s alma mater), and all the neighbors who live anywhere close (of which there are none) live above their buildings' second floors. Oh, yes, remember what Antoine said? The French are “never happy and always complaining…”
