With all the WWI monuments, memorials and cemeteries we've visited, I must say that the design of the French National Memorial to the Fallen at Verdun is cold, indifferent and would have provided little comfort to the loved ones devastated by the loss of their husband, brother, father or son in the Great War. There was scafolding covering a portion of the building when we visited, but I doubt little can be done to make this particular structure pleasing to the eye.

‘He believes that there's a distinct possibility this is the real ossuary of James, although he admits that the current evidence would not hold up in court.’ ‘At Verdun, scene of the most murderous battle of the war, a massive ossuary was built to commemorate those 300,000 soldiers whose bodies had never been found or identified.’. The Ossuary includes a cinema where a 20-minute short film is screened about the Battle of Verdun and the vocation of the monument from its creation until now. Apart from the screening, sometimes conferences and symposiums are held in the ossuary.

The Memorial was built over the Ossuary which houses the unidentified remains of thousands of the missing of Verdun. Could a mass grave, an inspiring monument and some beautiful landscaping have been a better alternative that this hideous structure which wraps itself around the bones of long dead loved ones? The Ossuary windows are soaped over, but the bones are visible to anyone curious enough to make the effort. I was not, but I have seen photos and it is something that stays with you.

And if that isn't enough, behind the Ossuary is a French military cemetery containing 15,000 graves. If ever there was a powerful anti-war statement to be made, the Douaumont Ossuary at Verdun certainly makes it. This is where Rodin's bronze angel should stand, gazing over the death and destruction with her mouth wide open in a scream of rage, her broken wing and a dead soldier wrapped around her legs, instead of where she stands on the peaceful banks of the river Meuse in Verdun.

This is where the Monument of the Lion of Verdun, dying in agony, belongs. After a week of visiting WWI sites in Belgium and France, and during our visits, paying our respects as best we could, it was time to move on to other, happier things. We didn't journey all the way to Europe to view these places as 'tourist attractions.'

We came to further educate ourselves about the Great War, and to honor the fallen. I didn't pay for the museum, but a note to say that the outside is currently being renovated.

Huge parking lot, so obviously the most popular attraction of the Verdun sites. There's free photos to look through, a walk around the monument and you'll see some human bones in the windows. The French cemetery across the street is also under going some changes. Some of the crosses/graves are being moved to another field. And interestingly, the Muslim French are segregated in their own plot? The maintenance is nowhere near the level of the American war cemeteries in Europe.

The Douaumont ossuary (French: L'ossuaire de Douaumont^[1]) is a memorial containing the skeletal remains of soldiers who died on the battlefield during the Battle of Verdun in World War I. It is located in Douaumont, France, within the Verdun battlefield. It was built on the initiative of Charles Ginisty, Bishop of Verdun. It has been designated a 'nécropole nationale' (French for a 'national necropolis').^[2]

History[edit]

During the 300 days of the Battle of Verdun (21 February 1916 – 19 December 1916) approximately 230,000 men died out of a total of 700,000 casualties (dead, wounded and missing). The battle became known in German as Die Hölle von Verdun (English: The Hell of Verdun), or in French as L'Enfer de Verdun, and was conducted on a battlefield covering less than 20 square kilometers (7.7 sq mi).

Ossuary information[edit]

The ossuary is a memorial containing the remains of both French and German soldiers who died on the Verdun battlefield. Through small outside windows, the skeletal remains of at least 130,000 unidentified combatants of both nations can be seen filling up alcoves at the lower edge of the building. On the inside of the ossuary building, the ceiling and walls are partly covered by plaques bearing names of French soldiers who died during the Battle of Verdun. A few of the names are from fighting that took place in the area during World War II, as well as for veterans of the Indochina and Algerian Wars. The families of the soldiers that are recognized here by name contributed for those individual plaques. In front of the monument, and sloping downhill, lies the largest single French military cemetery of the First World War with 16,142 graves. It was inaugurated in 1923 by Verdun veteran André Maginot, who would later approve work on the Maginot Line.

The ossuary was officially inaugurated on 7 August 1932 by French President Albert Lebrun.

Architecture[edit]

The architects of the ossuary were Léon Azéma, Max Edrei, and Jacques Hardy. George Desvallières designed the stained glass windows. The tower is 46 meters (151 ft) high and has a panoramic view of the battlefields. The tower contains a bronze death-bell, weighing over 2 tonnes (2.0 long tons; 2.2 short tons), called Bourdon de la Victoire, which is sounded at official ceremonies. It was offered by an American benefactor, Anne Thornburn Van Buren, in 1927. At the top of the tower is a rotating red and white 'lantern of the dead', which shines on the battlefields at night. Dungeon keeper 1. The cloister is 137 meters (449 ft) long and contains 42 interior alcoves.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^Jean-Paul Labourdette, Collectif, Dominique Auzias - Guide des lieux de mémoire 2011 Page 126 'L'ossuaire de Douaumont'
2. ^La nécropole nationale et l'ossuaire de Douaumont (55), Les chemins de mémoire, Ministry of Defence, n.d. Accessed 2012-06-01.

External links[edit]