Designed by the Swiss artist Daniel Berset and constructed by carpenter Louis Genève, the 39 feet (12 m) high gigantic Broken Chair with a mutilated leg that dominates Palais des Nations, in Geneva, symbolising the destruction caused by land mines, is considered one of the most emblematic work of art of the 21st century.

The project was the brainchild of Paul Vermeulen, co-founder of Handicap International, Switzerland, who commissioned the huge chair with a torn-off leg in October 1996. Finally, the unusual sculpture, made of 5.5 tons of wood, sponsored by Handicap International, was installed in front of the main entrance to the Palais des Nations on 18 August 1997, to mark the signing of the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines in Ottawa.

The giant chair with a broken leg was originally intended to remain on the spot only for three months, until the Ottawa Treaty was signed in December 1997 in Ottawa.

However, due to the failure of several countries to sign the Treaty, added to the strong public support for keeping the sculpture on the same spot, it was left untouched and remained standing on the same site till 2005, when it was removed for the extensive remodelling of the Palais des Nations. After completion of the work, the Broken Chair was reinstalled in the same place in front of the office of the United Nations, on 26 February 2007, and the reinstallation was officially dedicated by Handicap International to support the signature of an international treaty on a ban on cluster munitions, signed in Oslo in December 2008.

Born in 1953, Daniel Berset was trained at the Middlesex Polytechnic School of London, and has lived and worked in Spain, France, Australia and the UK.

As a motif, the Chair has haunted Daniel Berset for many years, and since his first solo exhibition in Geneva in 1986, it has been the perennial subject of his work, highlighted by the creation of his acclaimed piece Broken Chair in 1997, which soon became a symbol of silent protest against the use of land mines. The Broken Chair, precariously balancing on its three remaining legs, represents the fragility, but also signify the dignified protest against the inhuman decision of a handful of leaders, which disastrously affect humanity.

Following ratification by 40 countries, the Ottawa Treaty or simply the Mine Ban Treaty, for elimination of anti-personnel landmines around the world, became effective as an instrument of international law on 1 March 1999, but the Broken Chair still stands on its three legs, as a commemorative monument of the past, paying tribute to victims and evoke their memory.