Engineering:Thor's gavel

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Short description: Gavel used in the UN General Assembly
Thor's gavel
Icelandic: Þórshamar,
Icelandic: Ásmundarnautur
Thor's gavel in 2018.jpg
Thor's gavel in 2018
ArtistÁsmundur Sveinsson
Year1952 (1952)
DesignationGavel
LocationNew York, New York, U.S.
OwnerGeneral Assembly of the United Nations

Thor's gavel (Icelandic: Þórshamar), also known as Ásmundarnautur, is a ceremonial gavel, designed by sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson,[1] and originally given by Iceland and delivered to the General Assembly of the United Nations by ambassador Thor Thors in 1952.[2] It is engraved with the phrase "Society must be built on the basis of laws" (Icelandic: Með lögum skal land byggja) in both Icelandic and Latin.[3] It is used by the President of the United Nations General Assembly and at the end of the General Assembly the gavel is ceremoniously passed from the current President to the next President.[4][5]

The first version of the gavel was used until 12 October 1960 when Assembly President Frederick Boland slammed it down so hard that the head broke off and went flying during Nikita Khrushchev's shoe-banging incident.[4][6]

An exact copy of the gavel, made by Jón Benediktsson, was given to the United Nations in 1961[7] and served the General Assembly until its disappearance in 2005.[8][9]

The third edition of the gavel was made by Sigríður Kristjánsdóttir (Sigga á Grund) and given to the UN in 2005.[10][11][12] During the seventy-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly, the gavel broke once again.[4]

References

  1. "Víkingar sem biðja friðarbæna" (in Icelandic). Dagblaðið: p. 14. 22 October 1975. https://timarit.is/page/3057596#page/n13/mode/2up. open access
  2. "Ásmundarnautur á sínum stað á allsherjarþingi SÞ" (in Icelandic). Morgunblaðið. 24 September 2020. https://www.mbl.is/frettir/innlent/2020/09/24/asmundarnautur_a_sinum_stad_a_allsherjarthingi_sth/. 
  3. "Fundarhamar SÞ er íslenskur" (in Icelandic). Frjáls verslun (3): p. 68. 2007. https://timarit.is/page/6250680#page/n67/mode/2up. open access
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Íslenski hamarinn í New York fór í sundur" (in Icelandic). Morgunblaðið. 23 September 2023. https://www.mbl.is/frettir/innlent/2023/09/23/islenski_hamarinn_i_new_york_for_i_sundur/. 
  5. "Presidential Handing over of the Gavel: 77th -78th Session UN General Assembly". United Nations. 5 September 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHdKXKvsmUo. 
  6. A.I. Goldberg (25 November 1960). "Boland has many gavels since October's Big 'Bang'". The Baltimore Sun. Associated Press: p. 2. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-boland-has-many-gavels/132328022/. open access
  7. "Vildi að Ásmundur fengi höfundarlaunin" (in Icelandic). Morgunblaðið: p. 6. 21 September 2005. https://timarit.is/page/3674252#page/n5/mode/2up. open access
  8. "Keeping order in the General Assembly: The strange saga of how a Viking gavel was broken, then lost, then carved again". United Nations. 17 September 2018. https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/09/1019512. 
  9. "Iceland to replace UN gavel". The Kingston Whig-Standard: p. 25. 15 September 1961. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-kingston-whig-standard-iceland-to-re/132328058/. open access
  10. Höskuldur Daði Magnússon (11 May 2023). "Sigga á Grund óvænt í stóru hlutverki á leiðtogafundinum" (in Icelandic). Morgunblaðið. https://www.mbl.is/frettir/innlent/2023/05/11/ovaent_i_storu_hlutverki_a_leidtogafundinum/. 
  11. "Davíð afhenti nýjan fundarhamar" (in Icelandic). Morgunblaðið: p. 6. 21 September 2005. https://timarit.is/page/3674252#page/n5/mode/2up. open access
  12. Björn Jóhann Björnsson (20 September 2005). "Eftirlíking af hamrinum sem brotnaði undir ræðu Krústsjovs" (in Icelandic). Morgunblaðið: p. 52. https://timarit.is/page/3674242#page/n51/mode/2up. open access

External links