Headquarters of the United Nations temporary site. Another alternative for a temporary headquarters or a new permanent facility was the World Trade Center site. Once again, these plans met resistance both within the UN and from the United States and New York governments and were abandoned. By September 2015, the renovations were nearly complete but the cost had risen to $2.15 billion. Demolition of the North Lawn Building began in January 2016. The building was replaced with an open plaza, and most of its materials were to be recycled. Due to the significance of the organization, proposals to relocate its headquarters have occasionally been made.
Headquarters of the United Nations which was a gift from the Luxembourg government Other prominent artworks on the grounds include "Peace" - a Marc Chagall stained glass window memorializing the death of Dag Hammarskjöld - the Japanese Peace Bell which is rung on the vernal equinox and the opening of each General Assembly session, a Chinese ivory carving made in 1974 (before the ivory trade was largely banned in 1989), and a Venetian mosaic depicting Norman Rockwell's painting "The Golden Rule". A full-size tapestry copy of Pablo Picasso's "Guernica", by Jacqueline de la Baume Dürrbach, is on the wall of the United Nations building at