I brought some students to visit the plaza and it was a great experience. While I'm sure not everyone can get this, we were lucky to have Commissioner Joseph show us the plaza and tell us the stories behind it, like the fact that rubble from two buildings and a bridge that were destroyed during the war but are now rebuilt are embedded into this monument. I've posted about this before, but I wanted to say how cool it was getting the chance to see the reactions of university students from Bosnia & Herzegovina when they saw the monument and the thought that was put into designing it. I think if people took the time to study the history of the Bosnian War a bit more, they would appreciate the plaza even more, but maybe that's just the history teacher in me!

While this was built to commemorate the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords, I can't imagine anyone wanting to spend more than two minutes here. Located at a busy traffic intersection, it's a concrete plaza with a couple of plaques and flags. I drive by this site twice daily and have never seen anyone there. A waste of money and space.

Check out this important memorial to Dayton history and it is a lovely place to sit and reflect as well.

The Dayton Peace Accords are memorialized at the Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Plaza at the Salem Avenue Bridge in downtown Dayton. Richard Holbrooke was the key negotiator in bringing peace to Bosnia and ending the needless killing in the region. While he was alive Richard Holbrooke spoke on a number of times in Dayton about the unique setting of the peace talks and the personal roles so many people played in hammering out the accords. Richard Holbrooke will be forever remembered in Dayton as someone who brought peace to the Bosnian region and who inspired the continual commemoration of peace with the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the permanent memorial to him at this plaza. You should visit this memorial to enhance your understanding of the Dayton Peace Accords and what it did for the Bosnia region.

This simple memorial plaza is dedicated to the memory of Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and his work to bring peace to Bosnia and Herzegovina. He led the international community's successful effort to end the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was ended by the negotiation of a peace agreement in at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, in 1995. The agreement is known as the Dayton Peace Accords. Ambassador Holbrooke passed away in 2010, and this plaza honors his work and his memory. Perhaps the most interesting objects displayed are three stones from Bosnia and Herzegovina that have been incorporated into the memorial. They are building blocks and stones from historical buildings that were destroyed in the war, but which have been rebuilt. The stones are from the Sarajevo City Hall, the Novi Grad City Hall, and the Mostar Old Bridge (Stari Most), which is an internationally known symbol of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Both the American flag and the flag of BiH are flying over the plaza. The plaza is small, and you won't need more than 30 or 45 minutes to enjoy the displays and read the information. It does have spectacular views of the Great Miami River and downtown Dayton, which it overlooks. The view is especially good at sunset. The best place to park is on the street next to a small park located across West Riverview Ave., then cross the street at the corner to get to the plaza.