Imagine Peace Tower on Viðey Island, Reykjavík

The Imagine Peace Tower, called Friðarsúlan in Icelandic, stands on Viðey island in Kollafjörður bay, a short ferry ride from Reykjavík. Yoko Ono made it in memory of John Lennon and unveiled it on 9 October 2007, his 67th birthday. Every year its beam is switched on for the period from 9 October to 8 December.

A wishing well that makes a beam of light

By day the tower is not a tower at all. You see a white well 4 m across and 2 m high, standing on a round platform 17 m wide. Three kinds of Icelandic stone cover the platform in stripes. Carved into the well is the phrase "imagine peace" in 24 languages. English and Icelandic are there, and so are Inuktitut, Tamil, Georgian and Standard Tibetan.

At night 15 searchlights combine into one vertical beam. Six of them sit at the ends of corridors that run under the platform, and mirrors set at 45 degrees turn their light straight up out of the well. The power is geothermal and comes from the Hellisheiði plant. The Reykjavik Art Museum traces the idea to "Light House", an instruction piece Ono wrote in 1965. The work is in the museum's collection.

The official site says more than 2 million wishes have been sent in, some through Ono's Wish Trees project. How many are actually buried under the tower is less clear. English Wikipedia puts it at over a million, while the City of Reykjavík said "nearly one million" in 2025.

Who built it and who keeps it lit

Work started on 9 October 2006, and the tower was unveiled exactly a year later. Sean Lennon, Ringo Starr, Olivia Harrison and Dhani Harrison were at the ceremony with Ono. Ono, the City of Reykjavík and the energy company Orkuveita Reykjavíkur shared the construction cost, and Orkuveita pays to run it.

In 2024 the same partners paid for new lighting equipment. The city said it would use less energy and cost less to maintain. According to Icelandic Wikipedia, the brighter beam drew a complaint about light pollution from an astronomy writer, and a city councillor defended it.

Published power figures don't match. English Wikipedia gives about 75 kW and Icelandic Wikipedia 70 kW, and both may date from before the upgrade.

When the light is on

The one fixed period is 9 October to 8 December, from Lennon's birthday to the date he was killed in 1980. In 2025 the light came on at 8pm on 9 October. After that it ran from 8pm to midnight for the rest of October, 7pm to midnight in November, and 6pm to midnight in December. Other lighting periods around New Year and in spring are announced from year to year, and sources give different dates for them, so check the official schedule before you plan a trip around one.

On 9 October the city puts on free ferries from Skarfabakki pier and free buses from City Hall to the pier. In 2025 there were 1,200 ferry tickets, no more than five per booking. There was music and a short speech by the mayor just before the switch-on.

Reaching Viðey

The Elding ferry from Skarfabakki takes roughly 5 to 10 minutes. It runs daily from 15 May to 31 August and at weekends for the rest of the year. In summer there is also a slower boat from the Old Harbour. During the lighting season Elding sells guided evening walks of about two hours that land on the island. Outside the season you can still visit by day to read the inscriptions on the well. Viðey also has Richard Serra's stone work Áfangar and Viðeyjarstofa, an 18th-century house that is now a café.

Lennon has no grave. For where people go to remember him instead, see where John Lennon is buried and Strawberry Fields in Central Park.