In our work the Angel is a conceptual metaphor for the metafysical tension between earth and heaven, between culture and nature.The Angel as the awareness that we are, first and foremost, human beings. As such the Angel is taking on an ever-increasing aspect for the dawning of a new understanding of life, in which Humanity awakens to our role as creator of our unique Angel Energy.

The Angel Energy is the Quantum Leap in the metaphysical fields, the messenger between heaven and earth, the inspirer of the rediscovery of the Human as Spiritual Being, the Angel beyond male and female, knower of the innermost Self, pure Love, knowledge of the Heart, sender and receiver, beyond all religions, the anima animus, energy enraptured, radiant consciousness, the intellect of nature, poetry, saviour of lost souls, happiness, silence, reflection, fascination, understanding, connecting, bringer of light.

In this perspective, we would like to quote the following statement by the Dalai Lama in 2012:
“ All the world’s major religions, with their emphasis on love, compassion, patience, tolerance, and forgiveness can and do promote inner values. But the reality of the world today is that grounding ethics in religion is no longer adequate. This is why I am increasingly convinced that the time has come to find a way of thinking about spirituality and ethics beyond religion altogether”.

The Angel as universal Icon, as conceptual artwork, where Plant, Human and cosmic awareness come together,
is the bearer of Utopia, the inspiring force to awaken the best in Humanity.
The Human Being on the way to a New Renaissance.

Angel of Unity for The Garden of Nations in Ramallah, Palestine
The Angel as an icon of a new great story of awakening

In the artwork The Angel of Unity as a gesture of Peace initiated by the Dutch Government, three equal wings meet in the nucleus. These 3 wings represent the religions Judaism, Christianity and Islam which merge into a meaningful, connecting message of peace and harmony to the world.

Angels as metaphors for a New Humanity and World View
In our work the Angel is a conceptual metaphor for the metaphysical tension between earth and heaven, between culture and nature.The Angel as the awareness that we are, first and foremost, human beings. As such the Angel is taking on an ever-increasing aspect for the dawning of a new understanding of life, in which Humanity awakens to our role as creator of our unique Angel Energy.

The Angel Energy is the Quantum Leap in the metaphysical fields, the messenger between heaven and earth, the inspirer of the rediscovery of the Human as Spiritual Being, the Angel beyond male and female, knower of the innermost Self, pure Love, knowledge of the Heart, sender and receiver, beyond all religions, the anima animus, energy enraptured, radiant consciousness, the intellect of nature, poetry, saviour of lost souls, happiness, silence, reflection, fascination, understanding, connecting, bringer of light.

In this perspective, we would like to quote the following statement by the Dalai Lama in 2012:
“ All the world’s major religions, with their emphasis on love, compassion, patience, tolerance, and forgiveness can and do promote inner values. But the reality of the world today is that grounding ethics in religion is no longer adequate. This is why I am increasingly convinced that the time has come to find a way of thinking about spirituality and ethics beyond religion altogether”.

The Angel as universal Icon, as conceptual artwork, where Plant, Human and cosmic awareness come together, is the bearer of Utopia, the inspiring force to awaken the best in Humanity.
The Human Being on the way to a New Renaissance.

Standing here in The Parc of Nations in Ramallah, Palestine, We would like to thank all parties involved by the placement of the Angle of Unity. We like to end up with the visionary statement of Teilhard de Chardin: “The future belongs to those who give the next generations reason for hope”!
Thank you,

Our Friend, Ms. Birgitta Tazelaar
Head of the Netherlands representative office
Mr and Mrs Kortekaas, The artists of the “Angel”
Our distinguished guests,

Welcome to the Garden of Nations, the Garden that represents our symbol of friendship with other peoples, and where different Pieces of cultures meet in one place and different symbols of productions that address the reason, conscience and intellect help the citizens of Ramallah develop a sense of belonging to a world of great friends, and hence enrich them with more knowledge about the people who support our fair cause.

The idea of the establishment of this park is totally for the sake of having cultural exchanges and knowledge with other nations hoping it’ll serve to remove the sense of isolation, and revive the feeling of friendship and love towards our far away friends. These stones of Jerusalem that link between these pieces of arts symbolize the relationship between us and our friends as it’s the way of peace and friendship. It simply says that the stones of our Holy Land can be a path of peace and love with human cultures that are friendly to us and in support of our demands, humane and lawful conditions. The stones used are large and spacious, these used stones are of our Holy Land and are the same that we used once to resist the occupation, settlement and oppression and hence it served as a weapon against our enemies.

The existence of Garden of Nations in Ramallah enhances the vision of the municipal council and the owners of the city to its status as a global city in its way of thinking. Our city Ramallah respects intellectual pluralism, political and social development of the population, and believes in the opening up to the world to weave cultural and humane relations. The majority of the other nations are friends of ours because they are against injustice and occupation, support peace, justice and hate wars, murder and violence. And we’re all in Ramallah proud that we are proactive to express this human spirit and ideals on behalf of our people in Palestine, and this corresponds to our vision as a municipal Council of Ramallah, hence it’s from it that vision that the initiative to establish this park sprang out.

Our Dear Guests,

In the end I just would like to congratulate us all for having this distinguished peace of art “the Angel” that assures the principles of unity that we believe in. We’re happy that the artists are also present amongst us and hope that they would also have a fruitful visit through meeting Palestinian Artists.
Thank you all for being with us here today

Mayor Haddid, Ramallah

Speech for the inauguration of the statue ‘The Angel of Unity” at the Garden of Nations, 30 April 2013
by Birgitta Tazelaar, Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the Palestinian Authority
Thank you Mayor Haddid for your kind words. Thank you all for attending this small ceremony. Today is a special day for the Netherlands. This morning at eleven o’clock, Queen Beatrix signes the instrument of abdication in the Royal Palace in Amsterdam, a ceremony that will make the Prince of Orange, our new King: His Majesty King Willem-Alexander. His investiture will take place at exactly three o’clock today, in the 17th century New Church in Amsterdam. What a beautiful day to celebrate Netherlands – Palestinian friendship through our donation of a statue for the Garden of Nations in Ramallah.
During my first encounter with the municipality I was made aware of the garden of nations. I immediately had an urge to contribute to this beautiful project and I also immediately knew who to approach for this: Huub & Adelheid Kortekaas, artistical duo from the NL. They are artists who work not only from an artistic point of view, but also a philosophical one. They materialize what Marcus Aurelius wrote millenia ago: no matter how worthy the cause, always keep an eye for the eternal beauty surrounding you. They fight for causes such as peace and tolerance through creating beauty.
Huub and Adelheid on their turn immediately agreed and also knew which statue they thought fitted in this garden, and I fully agreed: The Angel of Unity with its three wings symbolizing the three monotheistic religions, Christianity, Islam and Judiasm – a message of peace and harmony. This statue belongs here: the Holy Land where the three faiths have a long history and hopefully a future of co-existence and harmony.
And this symbol is all the more meaningful because it was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, called Erasmus, (1466–1536), whose works laid the foundation for religious tolerance.
I find the symbol touching, and it inspired me to have a miniature of the statue to be awarded by a Palestinian jury to someone who showed courage in promoting tolerance and dialogue.
I would like to thank everyone who made this possible: Mayor, Mr Mousa Haddid, municipality staff, the former mayor Mrs Janet, the engineers, Mr Saed Abu Ghosh and Mr Sami, Huub and Adelheid Kortekaas, as well as those present and made time to join us today.
I hope that the idea behind the statue will prevail. Thank you.
Birgitta Tazelaar
Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the Palestinian Authority