Canadian National Vimy Memorial
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The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is one of Canada's most important overseas war memorials to those who served their country in First World War and risked or gave their lives during the war. It was constructed as the National Memorial for Canada's 66,000 war dead and is located in France on the site of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. France deemed the area surrounding the monument to be Canadian territory, as an expression of gratitude to the Canadian people for their sacrifice during the war. The entrance to the park bears the sign "the free gift in perpetuity of the French nation to the people of Canada".
The memorial stands atop Hill 145 near the towns of Vimy and Givenchy-en-Gohelle, in the Pas-de-Calais département of northern France. The land for the site of the memorial (about 1 km²) was granted in perpetuity to Canada by France in 1922, in recognition of the sacrifices made by the Canadian Armed Forces during the war and for capturing Vimy Ridge in April 1917.
The memorial was designed by Canadian architect and sculptor, the late Walter Seymour Allward. His design was selected from 160 submissions by Canadians who participated in a competition held in the early 1920s. Construction of the memorial commenced in 1925 and took 11 years. The memorial was officially unveiled on July 26, 1936 by King Edward VIII, in the presence of French President Albert Lebrun and over 50,000 Canadian and French veterans and their families [1].
The two main pylons of the memorial, representing Canada and France, tower 27 metres above the base of the monument. The memorial includes various stone sculptures which exhibit a wealth of symbolism and assist visitors in contemplating the memorial as a whole. Due to the height of Vimy Ridge, the topmost stone sculpture — representing peace — is approximately 110 metres above the Lens Plain to the east. The sculptures were created by Canadian artists, and record and illuminate the sacrifice of all who served during the war and, in particular, to the more than 66,000 men who lost their lives. The names of the 11,285 Canadian soldiers who died in France but who have no known grave are carved on the memorial (the names of those who died in Flanders are on the Menin Gate).
Visitors approaching the front of the monument will see one of its central figures: a woman, hooded and cloaked, facing eastward toward the new day. Her eyes are downcast and her chin rests on her hand. Below her is a tomb, draped in laurel branches and bearing a helmet. This grieving figure represents Canada — a young nation mourning her fallen sons.
The 20 statues present on the Vimy Memorial site were originally sculpted by Allward in roughly life-size out of unfired clay. These were then replicated in more durable plaster, and the plaster copies were sent to France, where French stonecarvers replicated them again in stone, while doubling their size. The plaster working copies, nearly destroyed in the 1960s, are now on display in Canada, with the Canadian War Museum showing 17 and the Military Communications and Electronics Museum attached to Canadian Forces Base Kingston showing the remaining 3.[2]
Today the site is designated by the Canadian government as a National Historic Site. In addition to the monument itself the memorial includes a small museum, an area of preserved trenches and tunnels, and nearby cemeteries of those killed in the battle. In recent times the memorial has come to symbolize many important values for Canadians, including peace in the world, liberty, the rule of international law, and opposing aggression.
In 2004 the memorial was closed for restoration work, including general cleaning and the recarving of names. The statues will be moved off-site, cleaned and restored. The restored memorial will be inaugurated on April 9, 2007, the 90th anniversary of the battle.
The rehabilitation plan for Vimy Memorial is part of the Canadian Battlefield Memorials Restoration Project, directed by Canada's Department of Veterans Affairs in cooperation with other Canadian departments, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, consultants and specialists in military history.
[edit] Trivia
- The magazine After the Battle published a photographic history of the site following the repatriation of Canada's Unknown Soldier, which included a ceremony at the Vimy Memorial. One of these photographs depicted the memorial's most notorious visitor: Adolf Hitler. In 1940, after his armies conquered France, Hitler toured the Vimy Memorial and its preserved trenches. Hitler had been decorated twice for bravery as an infantryman during the Great War and saw combat in the general vicinity of Vimy, often against Commonwealth soldiers in similar trenches. While Hitler had no qualms about destroying culturally significant locations in France and even ordered Paris razed in 1944 (an order that was ignored), Hitler's belief that he had kinship with soldiers of the First World War meant that Allied monuments and military cemeteries throughout conquered France remained safe from harm.[citation needed]
- The novel The Stone Carvers, by Jane Urquhart, is set amongst the creation of the memorial.
