It was a cold, damp day when we visited The Broken Chair, a sculpture in wood designed by Swiss artist Daniel Berset and constructed by carpenter Louis Genève. It is made from 5.5 tons of wood and stands 12 metres (39 feet) high.

It is a giant chair with a broken leg and stands across the street from the Palace of Nations, in Geneva. It symbolises the widespread, and logical, opposition to land mines and cluster bombs.

The sculpture was erected by Handicap International in front of the main entrance to the Palace of Nations on the 18th of August 1997, where it was originally intended to remain for three months, until the signing of the Ottawa Treaty in December 1997.

Very strong public support for the sculpture caused it to be left in place until 2005, when it was removed to allow extensive remodelling of the Place des Nations. After completion of the work, the chair was reinstalled in the same place in front of the United Nations Office at Geneva on 26 February 2007.