My friends Christiane and Max, knowing my interest for bears, gave me pictures of statues of bears' exhibition that they visited in Berlin in july 2002.

These bears were created by artists from 140 different countries in order to promote tolerance.I thank them and let them speaking to explain the reasons of this exhibition.

© Max and Christiane - The United Buddy Bears - Berlin

The United Buddy Bears are an international art exhibition.

These bears, two metres tall, were created to make easier the coexistence between countries. Each of them represents one of the countries acknowledged by the United Nations and was created by an artist to pay tribute to his country of origin.

The artists were chosen by ambassadors or by the culture minister of each country.They came to Berlin in order to create their own bear.

© Max et Christiane - The United Buddy Bears hand in hand in a peaceful circle - Berlin

We went round the world thanks to the Buddy Bears, varied and coloured creations of different countries. The United Buddy Bears were exhibited on four continents, and Berlin was the first town to receive this exhibition in 2002.

Here are the other countries which received this great event :

The UNICEF and the mayors of each country have inaugurated the exhibition.

With the motto : " We have to get to know each other better, it makes us understand one another better, trust other more, and live together more peacefully ", the creators or this project,  Eva et Klaus Herlitz, want to promote peace, love, tolerance and international understanding.

It's the reason why the bears stand hand in hand in a peaceful circle

© Max et Christiane - The United Buddy bears

  © Max in front of two United Buddy Bears

All the activities about the United Buddy Bears brink back money for the impoverished children.

Thanks to the gifts and auctions , more than 2 million dollars were collected for UNICEF and some organizations who help childhood.

You can admire some pictures of United Buddy Bears. It was for us a great moment.

© Max et Christiane - The French Buddy Bear created by Armand Warin

© Max et Christiane - The Colombian Buddy Bear created by Tomas Andes Arango Roldan

© Max et Christiane - The Czech Buddy Bear

© Max et Christiane - The American and English Buddy Bears

If you want to know more about the Buddy Bears , you can visit the official website : clicking here