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39.

ADDRESS
BY MR. VLADIMIR PETROVSKY
UNITED NATIONS UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL
DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICE AT GENEVA
AT THE OPENING OF THE ARCHITECTURAL EXHIBITION “LA CITE
UNIVERSELLE"

12 October 1995

Mrs. Brunschwig Graf,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I should like to welcome you to the Palais des Nations where, in

the context of the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations
Organization, the opportunity is offered to us today to reflect on
both the historical importance and the evolution of this seat of international
diplomacy in Geneva. The most recent launching of an international
architectural competition destined to create a nucleus, in Geneva, for the
international community, has awoken the desire to reconsider the origins of
the Organization. And this is why we are gathered here today.

Geneva was the seat of the first international organization - the League of
Nations. The history of the League as well as of the United Nations indicate
that international organizations always attracted the people of art and creative
and imaginative personalities. In 1927 when it was decided to build the future
home for the League of Nations more than 377 projects were submitted to an
international jury composed of the most world famous architects - of these, Le
Corbusier is probably, for the layman, the best known.

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