A Thousand Paper Cranes as a Gesture of Goodwill
We invite you to an all-day open workshop, during which we’ll work together to fold a thousand origami cranes ( senbazuru in Japanese). The workshop is free and open to everyone—children and adults, school classes, friends, colleagues, and even those who don’t know us yet. Anyone who comes can fold one crane with us and then head off to school or work. Or you can stay with us longer and fold more cranes. The choice is entirely up to you.
Our Senbazuru workshop will be about more than just folding paper. We want to create a space where we can come together and create during the pre-Christmas season, a time that encourages us to think of others—both our loved ones and those who find themselves in difficult life situations. It is a democratic space where everyone can infuse each paper-folding gesture with the spirit of human togetherness, mutual respect, solidarity, and tolerance.
At the end of the workshop, we’ll string our thousand cranes onto strings and send them to Children’s Peace Memorial in Hiroshima, where similar messages arrive from all over the world. In this way, we will symbolically connect our shared wishes with those of thousands of other people.
A Thousand Cranes
Senbazuru (千羽鶴) is a Japanese tradition of folding a thousand paper cranes using the origami technique. In Japanese culture, the crane is a symbol of longevity, happiness, and hope. According to an old legend, a person who folds a thousand cranes will have their wish granted.
The senbazuru tradition is inextricably linked to the story of a Japanese girl Sadako Sasaki, who, at the age of two, survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. Ten years later, she was diagnosed with leukemia, and in the hope of a cure, she began folding paper cranes. However, she succumbed to the disease at the age of twelve. Her story has gradually become a symbol of the innocent victims of war and the desire for a world without violence.
Since then, people around the world have been folding paper cranes as a symbol of peace, solidarity, and hope. Individual cranes, when brought together as a whole, serve as a reminder that even a small personal gesture can be part of a greater shared hope.
Date and Venue
Friday, December 11, 2026 / 6:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m.
Litomyšl City Gallery
Toulovcovo nám. 156, Litomyšl (1st floor)
