Early in the morning some volunteers started with the final preparations for the
closing ceremony of the European World Harmony Run. The city hall of Vienna
was shining bright ...

... a huge banner heralded the event ...

... a few finishing touches and we were ready to go ...

... an important part of the closing ceremony was an exhibition of drawings about
peace; many children from all over Europe contributed ...

... V-528 helped getting in tune with whistles tuned to the frequency of the heart ...

... tuning the heart tone together creates a feeling of oneness ...

... the first kids from an islamic kindergarten arrived ...

... and participated in sound workshops ...

... organized by Klanghaus Gandharva Loka from Salzburg ...

... you could also try yourself on the violin ...

... Erni Loos from UNESON explained the "Quilt of Peace" project ...

... the patches were later added to the Quilt that already equals the size of a soccer field ...

... Elisabeth Rockenbauer conjured colourful art ...

... the pantomime Vlado Kulisek from Slovakia entertained the kids ...

... a great variety of games was played ...

...SAGYA provided food from all over the world ...

... and an Ethiopian coffee ceremony ...

... Hungarian husars watched over the event ...

... the swords(wo)men from WOTS-Dojang ...

... prepared for their performance ...

... and the stage in front of the city hall was ready to welcome the runners ...

... that gathered at St. Stephan's Square ...

... our international team got strong support by a group of seventy kids from the Vienna International School ...

... the police escort examined the Peace Torch ...

... and off we went on the last leg of the European part of the World Harmony Run 2012!

... A real fun-run through the centre of Vienna ...

... through the Hofburg, crossing the Heldenplatz ...

... along the Ringstraße ...

... passing the Naturhistorisches Museum ...

... and the Austrian Parliament ...

... entering the Rathausplatz in front of the Burgtheater ...

... where on the main stage ...

... a group of drummers from the beat factory enthusiastically greeted our runners!

... as we entered the stage to the music of the World Harmony Run song supported by the youth orchestra of the Musikgymnasium Wien ...

... the kids and our runners announced their countries. All together we represented more than 40 countries on stage!

Dipavajan Renner, the European coordinator of the World Harmony Run, addressed the guests ...

... and asked for a few moments of silence for peace...

The sword fighters of WOTS-Dojang demonstrated exercises ...

... bringing peace to the mind through the power of concentration.

Tom Rohner introduced V-528 and invited to tune together on a feeling of gratitude ...

The youth orchestra of the Musikgymnasium Wien performed ...

... an arrangement of Sri Chinmoy's "Peace Song" by Vapushtara Jongepier from the Netherlands.

Salil Wilson, executive director of the World Harmony Run, introduced the Run and passed the torch to our special guests ...

... Ilse Pfeiffer, counsellor of the german embassy ...

... Ayse Sezgin, representative of the turkish embassy ...

... Olaf Auer, visionary and restaurateur of Schloss Cobenzl ...

... Fahim Babar Khan from the Austrian International Cultural Association ...

... the torch then stayed on stage held by a sculpture made by students under Daniel Gartner ...

...what would be Vienna without classical music?

... to the sounds of the "The Blue Danube" ...

... the kids attached greeting messages to balloons ...

... to let them go high into the sky.

... greetings from Austria for the world!

... after singing the birthday song for the World Harmony Run's 25th anniversary ...

... we planted a Peace Tree near the city hall ...

... and cut the largest vegan cake, representing ...

... Europe from its sweetest side!

Then we took a ride on the largest rocking horse ...

... from "The Rocking Horse Project" ...

... where you have to collaborate to make it rock.

Good bye and see you soon again somewhere on the planet!

– Dipavajan

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Team Members:
international runners

Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.

Gallery: See more images!

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