The first statue of Swami Vivekananda in Europe will be installed in the Netherlands on 12 January, which is his birthday. The statue will be unveiled by Reenat Sandhu, Ambassador of India to Netherlands. Eelco Eerenberg, deputy mayor of Utrechit will be present on the occasion. Van Lawick Van Pabstlaan is the venue where the statue will be installed at 11.15am. This is the first time that a statue of Swamiji will be installed in Europe.
The statue of Sister Nivedita was installed at Wimbledon in 2023. Sister had opened a school in Wimbledon. Swamiji had visited England in 1895 after his success at the World’s Parliament of Religions, which was held in Chicago in 1893. The road that leads to the art institute where Swamiji had addressed the gathering is now called Swami Vivekananda Street.
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In England, Swamiji met Professor Max Muller and John Venn, the father of Venn Diagram. Swami had visited Professor Venn’s house with his friend Henrieta Muller. With Prof Max Muller, Swamiji became very close and after talking to him and on getting more information he wrote a book Life and Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna, which came out in 1898. It was the first book on Sri Ramakrishna which was written by an European scholar. Swamiji had travelled extensively in Germany, Italy and France and could speak French fluently.
He had attended the Paris Conference in 1900 and delivered speeches on Vedanta. Swamiji became close with American actress Sarah Bernhardt and French opera singer Madam Emma Calve. A recent book written by Professor Ruth Harris of Oxford University titled Guru to the World-Life and Legacy of Swami Vivekananda has created ripples in the Western world and many people have started reading the life and work of Swamiji.
There is renewed interest in Swamiji and Vedanta in the USA and Swami Sarvapriyananda, head of the Vedanta Society in New York has become a cult figure and both the Americans and Indian Diaspora listen to his speeches. Swami Medhananda, who is associated with the Hollywood centre of Ramakrishna Mission, has created a great impact on the American minds through his books.
