No other event in recent history has touched every place, citizen, nation, & religion on Earth as did the COVID-19 pandemic. It excluded no one. At best you may have experienced quarantine, at worst you may have experienced loss; we have all shared the pain and challenges brought by the pandemic. This monument embraces our shared experiences.

ON March 11, 2020,

after more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries and 4,291 deaths, the World Health Organization declares COVID-19 a pandemic. Today, they are still collecting real time data on cases, deaths, and vaccinations across the globe. Explore your region by clicking on the interactive map below.

The Monument Design Contest

On April 1, 2023, the COVID-19 Monument Commission invited everyone in the world, age eighteen and above, to submit a design concept for the Monument, due by August 31, 2023. A jury selected the winning design from over one hundred submissions, and the winning artist, Sculpture Professor Casey Schachner, received a cash prize of $20,000 USD for her concept.

The Monument addresses the themes of honor, remembrance, and resilience. The design honors essential workers, first responders, and all who courageously served while much of society stayed home, locked down by worldwide order. Aspects of remembrance will reflect on the lives lost by illness, the pandemic experience, the suffering – hence the call to learn and to heal. The design embodies notions of resilience and victory.

Professor Schachner’s ingenuity provides a moving and creative concept that speaks to all nations and cultures, unequivocally inclusive. She featured the dandelion in her design for its visual affinity to the CDC rendering of the COVID-19 virus, as well as its metaphysical and philosophical notions of resilience and rebirth.

A VIRTUAL and physical GLOBAL MONUMENT

Our Monument establishes a permanent virtual and physical platform to memorialize, mourn, and reflect. The COVID-19 Monument Commission, in collaboration with the Hektoen Institute of Medicine and the Illinois Medical District, has selected a location in the city of Chicago, Illinois, USA for the physical structure. The Monument will be a major outdoor public sculpture and park, in harmony with the environment and cultural topography, and will be accessible 24/7, either at the physical site or through virtual engagement. We are planning to unveil the Monument at its physical site in Chicago in the year 2025. Serving as a permanent site for resilience and education, we will invite all to participate and share their pandemic experiences via the online platform.