Tolerance through Dialogue, Steel sculpture in Münster, Germany

Tolerance through Dialogue is a 1992 sculpture by the Basque artist Eduardo Chillida, installed on 17 May 1993 in the sunken courtyard behind Münster's Historic Town Hall, on the Platz des Westfälischen Friedens. It consists of two equal benches of solid Corten steel, each about 2.90 m long and 1.20 m deep and high, facing one another with different cut-outs in each. The total weight is about 18 tonnes.

Chillida worked on a Münster sculpture design in the 1980s; when it stalled, his Monumento a la Tolerancia from Seville was shown at Skulptur.Projekte 1987. He then designed this piece for the courtyard behind the Historic Town Hall, lowered four steps by architect Joaquin Montero. It was installed on 17 May 1993 and unveiled the next day, the 350th anniversary of the start of the Westphalian Peace negotiations, before Richard von Weizsäcker.

The title echoes the Monumento a la Tolerancia in Seville, which Chillida linked to the 1492 expulsion of Jews and Moors from Spain as an act of intolerance. The two facing benches, with different cut-outs, are meant to be sat on facing each other. Chillida said of them: "They are not meant to hold bodies, but ideas."

The sculpture stands in central Münster and is easily accessible to visitors. The weathering steel develops a rust-colored patina over time, which shifts in appearance throughout the seasons and contributes to the work's evolving presence.

Chillida said of the benches: "They are not meant to hold bodies, but ideas." The courtyard behind the town hall was lowered by four steps to plans by the Spanish architect Joaquin Montero so the work could stand directly behind the Peace Hall.