U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on Wednesday joined other officials and guests in celebrating the return of the Peace Bell, donated 61 years ago by Chiyoji Nakagawa, a peace activist and former mayor of a Japanese city, to the renovated Japanese Garden at the organization's New York headquarters.

The 115-kilogram bell, cast with coins collected from more than 60 countries and a gold coin gifted by the bishop of Rome, is rung by the U.N. chief every year on the International Day of Peace on Sept. 21.

At the ceremony to mark the bell's return, Ban said, "Over the last five years that the Peace Bell was away, too many innocent people around the world have heard only the sounds of guns and bombs," adding that "this bell still represents the collective desire for the world to live in peace."