Asmundur Sveinsson designed the chairman’s gavels of the UN and NATO. What’s more: the gavels are identical. Mark Rutte is the fourth chairman from the Netherlands to open NATO meetings with this ‘hammer of Thor’. Both gavels have already been hammered to pieces. At his first appearance, Rutte also struck the gavel with the wrong side on the table.
Chairman’s gavels symbolize power and order. This elegant gavel was carved from one piece by Asmundur Sveinsson (1893 – 1982). The design was inspired by the wood carving of Icelandic Vikings, who formed one of the earliest democracies in the world on Iceland in the 10th century AD.
Iceland gave this gift to the United Nations first in 1952. Former Permanent Representative of Iceland to the UN, Hjálmar W. Hannesson, explained that in this period of history ‘…we adopted Christianity. This contributed to ending internal strife and the unification of the country. One of the leaders said then: ‘Society must be built on the basis of laws’.” This sentence is now engraved in the plaque of the UN chairman’s gavel.
The replica of the UN chairman’s gavel from 2005.
Inspired thus by the mythical hammer ‘Mjölnir’ of the thunder god Thor. But not nearly as powerful. The UN chairman’s gavel had to be replaced by a replica in 2005. This one was also made by an Icelandic sculptor, Sigridur Kristjansdottir (1944). She carved the new specimen from pear wood to make it extra strong.
Used with violence
NATO also received the Icelandic hammer of Thor, in 1963, 11 years after the gift to the UN. Former Prime Minister Mark Rutte had it handed to him when he started as Secretary-General at NATO, in October 2024. The only difference: in this gavel the compass rose of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is engraved.
Rutte is not the only Dutchman who will open NATO meetings with this. Dirk Stikker, Joseph Luns and Jaap de Hoop Scheffer preceded him. This gavel was originally made of rosewood, today a very rare and very expensive wood species.
Did the clumsy NATO chairman Joseph Luns hammer Thor’s gavel to pieces?
With Joseph Luns it also went wrong with this ‘twin gavel’. In 1975 he had to report that the gavel was damaged. Now Luns was known as a klutz. He deliberately mangled the name of the pacifist Member of Parliament Lankhorst repeatedly to ‘Lamkamp’ and ‘Lamstraal’. A famous photo shows him climbing over a fence with his briefcase. This is how he left the Indonesian embassy in Wassenaar, occupied by South Moluccans, as Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1970.
Another gavel ordered in Iceland
A replica of Thor’s hammer had to be ordered again in Iceland. This specimen has been doing well so far. But Rutte has been warned.
Of the sculptor Sveinsson not only the two famous wooden chairman’s gavels remain. Numerous (abstract) works by him can still be found in Iceland. His house in the capital Reykjavik is an art museum.
Jan Bom, October 12, 2024
