35 places to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War

From 1914 to 1918, the rich and powerful Western nations and empires that dominated the globe unleashed a paroxysm of destruction unparalleled in any previous era. Empires collapsed, millions died, and the world was changed forever. After World War I, countries sought appropriate forms of public mourning and commemoration to mourn and honor the dead. There was an overwhelming desire among allies and adversaries that such a war should never happen again. "Anything but war! Anything! ... No ordeal, no slavery can compare with war," wrote French novelist and pacifist Roger Martin du Gard in 1936.

World War I: The Definitive Visual History

Today, memorials, monuments and museums commemorating the First World War can be found in every country involved in the fighting. From the Rose Garden in Ireland to huge war cemeteries built on or near battlefields, these sites ensure that the memory of the war and the sacrifices of those who died will never fade.

AUSTRALIA

ANZAC Memorial

This major New South Wales war memorial is located in Sydney's Hyde Park. Designed in the Art Deco style by C. Bruce Dellit, it is made of granite and the sculptures and bas-reliefs were created by artist Raynor Hoff. The buttresses on the exterior of the building are topped with a mournful figure and the bas-reliefs depict scenes from Australia's Gallipoli and Western Front campaigns. Ceremonies at the memorial are held on Remembrance Sunday (November 11) and Anzac Day (April 25).

Hyde Park, Sydney

Australian War Memorial

Australia's National War Dead Memorial was built after World War I, but it serves to memorialize Australian servicemen who died in all conflicts. The main parts of the memorial are the Commemoration Area (which includes the Hall of Remembrance), the Anzac Parade and the Sculpture Garden. Located on the first floor of the main building, the museum's Anzac Hall of Remembrance, newly equipped with a high-tech exhibition area, houses a permanent exhibition, "Over the Front, The Great War in the Air", which tells the story of aerial combat in the First World War. It features five original war-era airplanes, memorabilia, personal wills and a sound and light show.

Memorial Park, Canberra

Shrine of Remembrance

Built to commemorate the Victorian war dead of 1914-18, it is one of Australia's greatest memorials. Inspired by the Mausoleum of Mausolus, King of Caria, at Halicarnassus in Turkey, the shrine was opened in November 1934. The shrine features a Memorial Stone with the inscription "Greater Love Has No One", designed so that a beam of sunlight (or artificial light) falls on the word "Love" every year at 11 a.m. on November 11. More than 120 ceremonies are held at the shrine each year.

St. Kilda Road, Melbourne.

BELGIUM

American Cemetery and Flanders Field Memorial

This is the only American Battle Monuments Commission cemetery in Belgium dedicated to the American contribution to the war on the Western Front. Smaller and more secluded than most military cemeteries in Belgium, it consists of 368 burials, and the headstones are arranged around a central chapel. Many of the casualties buried here were from the US 91st Division, who died fighting in the area in October and November 1918. The chapel itself has 43 names on the "Walls of the Missing" - rosettes marking the names of soldiers whose remains were later found and identified.

Southeast of Waregem, along the Lille-Ghent E-17 highway

Museum "On Flanders Fields

The cloth hall in the Market Square in the center of Ypres (Ypres), where three of the most significant battles of the war took place, has been transformed into a museum with major collections of artifacts and documents from the First World War. Exhibits and interactive audio-visual displays tell the story of the invasion of Belgium in 1914 and the first months of the war, with a special focus on the war around Ypres and how the war affected the city. The documentation center includes extensive original trench maps, a photo library and postcard collection, and contemporary newspaper reports.

Visitors can also climb the bell tower, which offers views of the city and nearby battlefields. Admission to the center is free, although some collections can be viewed by appointment only.

Lakenhallen Grote Markt 34, Ieper

Langemark German Military Cemetery

Langemark Cemetery, an official site of the German War Graves Commission, contains more than 40,000 burials of soldiers found between 1915 and the 1930s. In 1930, the cemetery received official status as German War Cemetery 123 and was inaugurated two years later. Of the soldiers buried in the cemetery, 24,917 lie in mass graves. The German Student Memorial Annex lists the names of 3,000 students who died in the Battle of Langemarck (part of the First Battle of Ypres) in 1914. Known in Germany as the Kindermord (massacre of children), the First Battle of Ypres included many young German volunteers, most of whom had received only two months of military training. In the cemetery stands a sculpture of mourning soldiers by Emil Krieger. Also of note is a basalt-lava cross on a small mound marking one of the three original bunkers on the battlefield.

North of the village of Langemark, 6 km (4 mi) northeast of Ieper

Menin Gate

The Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, one of the most visited landmarks on the Western Front, was designed by Reginald Blomfield and opened in 1927. It marks the spot where the majority of British soldiers marched out of the town onto the battlefields of the Ypres Escarpment. The names of 54,896 British and Commonwealth soldiers who died on the Ypres Ledge up to August 16, 1917 are embossed on the walls of the Hall of Remembrance. Every evening at 8pm, traffic stops and the Last Post is played under the arches of the memorial.

Meensestraat, Ieper

Messina battlefield and memorials

Around the village of Wytschette are the craters of St. Eloi, Peckham Farm, St. Yvon, Krüsstraat and Spanbrookmolen, evidence of the 19 huge mines exploded under the German trenches at Messina. An information board in the village provides routes to the craters, and there are more than 1,000 burials in the Weitschette military cemetery, a short walk from the main square. A smaller cemetery, Lone Tree Cemetery, near Spanbrookmolen, has 88 burials, mostly of soldiers of the Royal Irish Fusiliers.

Among the memorials commemorating the battle is the London Scottish Regiment Monument on the N365 between Wythenshaeth and Messines, marking the spot where they first engaged. Mesena (Messines) itself, which was completely destroyed during the battle, is home to the New Zealand Memorial Park and Messines Ridge War Cemetery. It was in Mesena Church (restored) that Adolf Hitler was rumored to have been treated for battle wounds in 1914. To the south of Mesen is the modern-day Peace Park of the island of Ireland, opened in 1998 to commemorate the Irish soldiers who died in the First World War.

Mesena neighborhood (Messina)

The Paschendale battlefield

Few battlefield sites recall the tragedy of the Ypres Ridge more than Passchendaele, located in the vicinity of the modern village of Passchendaele. There are many memorials to individual battles and regiments, including the Canadian memorial at Cross Farm, the 85th Battalion (Nova Scotia Highlanders) memorial, and memorials to French soldiers and the British Seventh Division located at Brudzeinde.

Cemeteries in the area include Passchendaele New British Cemetery, containing 2,101 British and Commonwealth burials, and the extensive Tyne Cot Cemetery southwest of Passchendaele. Zonnebeck is home to the Passchendaele 1917 Memorial Museum, which has a large display of military artifacts.

Various locations in and around Sonnebec and Passendale

Royal Museum of Armed Forces and Military History

This museum houses collections relating to the entire military history of Belgium, not just the First World War. It features a large collection of World War I artifacts, documents, and memorabilia in a permanent exhibition from 1914-18. Exhibits include wick guns, artillery pieces, uniforms, armored vehicles and even a Fokker triplane.

Hubelpark 3, 1000 Brussels

Memorial Saint-Julien.

This granite memorial, designed by Anglo-Canadian architect Frederick Chapman Clemsha, stands 11 m (36 ft) high. Known as the "Pensive Soldier", it depicts at its summit the head and shoulders of a Canadian infantryman bowing his head in grief. The memorial commemorates the Canadian soldiers who died in the vicinity of St. Julien during the Second Battle of Ypres. Many of the dead were killed as a result of the first use of poison gas (chlorine) on the Western Front, as the inscription on the memorial states, "This column marks the battlefield where 18,000 Canadians on the British left flank withstood the first German gas attacks on April 22-24, 1915. 2,000 fell and are buried here."

7 km (4.3 mi) northeast of Ieper, on the N313 highway toward Rulers.

Sanctuary Wood Cemetery and Museum Hill 62

In 1914, Sanctuary Wood served as a protective barrier between British and Commonwealth troops and the front line. However, in 1915-16 there was heavy fighting here, mainly between Canadian and German troops.

At that time, three Allied cemeteries were established in the area. The remains of one of these formed the basis of the present cemetery, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens just after the war. During the 1920s and 1930s the cemetery was expanded with additions from the Western Front. Today it contains 1,989 burials (spread across five plots), of which only 637 have been identified.

Within walking distance of the cemetery is the privately owned Sanctuary Wood Museum Hill 62. Outside the museum you can see an extensive series of preserved trench lines that can be walked on. Another feature of the Sanctuary Wood neighborhood is the Canadian Memorial on Hill 62, commemorating the thousands of Canadians who died in the futile battles to retake Hill 62 in June 1916.

5 km (3 miles) east of Ieper, just off the N8 highway

St. George Memorial Church

Field Marshal Lord Plumer, commander of the Second British Army in Flanders during the war, laid the foundation stone of St. George's Church in Ypres in 1927. Two years later, services opened in the building and it is still an active place of worship today. Although the church was built primarily to commemorate the British and Commonwealth dead at Ypres - its stained glass windows, wall plaques, banners and kneelers reflect individual British regiments - it is now a memorial church for all those who died fighting in Flanders during both World Wars.

Elverdingsestraat 1, 8900 Ieper

Tyne Cot Cemetery

The largest British military cemetery in the world, Tyne Cot contains a total of 11,953 burials, mostly British and Commonwealth soldiers, but also includes four German soldiers. Most of the men buried here died during the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917. The name Tyne Cot is believed to be of British origin. According to one local story, the Northumberland Fusiliers decided that the barn on the crest of the mountain here was similar to their cottages on the River Tyne back home in the UK. Highlights of the cemetery include the Cross of Sacrifice monument and the curved Missing Persons Memorial, which lists the names of 35,000 soldiers whose graves are unknown.

Southwest of Passendale, signposted to the N332 highway after passing east through Zonnebeke.

Vladslo German War Cemetery

There are 25,644 soldiers buried in this German cemetery, most of whom were moved here from elsewhere in the 1950s (there had been a battle cemetery here since 1914). Although some headstones date from the time of the war, most were installed afterward. Each of the flat granite slabs has 20 names embossed on it, along with surname, rank and date of death. The cemetery features a pair of "Grieving Parents" statues made by German sculptor Käthe Kohlwitz. Kolwitz's son was killed at First Ypres in October 1914.

3 km (1.8 mi) northeast of Wladszlo, signposted to the N363 from Birst.

The battlefield of the Ypres Solon

After the Somme, the area of the Ypres escarpment, centered on the modern town of Ypres, is the most visited place for tourists who have been to the battlefield. In the town itself are the Menin Gate and St. George's Memorial Church, memorials to those who died at Ypres, as well as the On the Field of Flanders museum. Outside the city there are many other places of interest, including over 140 military cemeteries and war graves. There are 40,000 unidentified graves in British cemeteries alone. The cemeteries are cared for by the British, Belgian, French and Italian War Graves Commissions.

Interesting museums in the vicinity of Ieper include the Hill 62 Reserve Forest Museum, the Hooge Crater Museum, the Passchendaele Memorial Museum (in Zonnebeck) and the Messina Historical Museum (Mesen). Poperinge, located 13 km (8 mi) west of Ieper, was a center for British troops heading to the front. The town's Talbot House Museum served as a clubhouse for members of the British Army. Opened by Army Chaplain Philip Clayton as an alternative vacation spot to the more debauched places in town, it was open to all ranks. Officers going on leave could also spend the night here before catching a train back to Britain.

Take the Neuville-St. Vast exit from the A26 highway, follow the D49 road.

FRANCE

The Ossuary in Duomont and the Verdun Memorial

It is arguably one of the most powerful memorials on the Western Front. Work on a temporary ossuary - a building to house the bones of the dead - began in 1920 to provide shelter for the hundreds of thousands of bones that were scattered across the Verdun battlefield. Work on the construction of a permanent ossuary began in 1920, and in 1927 bones from the battlefield were moved here. The ossuary contains the bones of 130,000 unidentified soldiers, arranged according to the area of the Verdun battlefield in which they were found.

Douaumont

Etaples Military Cemetery

Due to the many British military camps and hospitals around Etaples, a large British and Commonwealth cemetery was required in the area. It has been in use since May 1915 and contains 10,733 World War I burials, including 35 unknown soldiers, as well as World War II burials.

Between Boulogne and Etaples

German military cemetery Fricourt

Although Fricourt is not the largest German military cemetery in the Somme region - Vermandovillers has 26,000 burials - 17,027 German soldiers rest here, some 10,000 of whom died during the 1916 battles of the Somme (the burials date from 1914-1918). Only 5,057 burials have individual graves; the remaining 11,970 are in four mass graves.

Near Fricourt, Somme

Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial

It is the largest U.S. military cemetery in Europe, with 14,246 servicemen buried in 52 hectares (130 acres). In the memorial chapel, plaques are inscribed with the names of 954 soldiers missing in action (the bodies of those whose names were marked with roses were eventually located and identified). The visitor center staff provides tips on navigating the cemetery and finding specific graves.

Romagne-sous-Montfacouon

Army Museum

One of the world's largest military museums, the Musée de l'Armée in Paris contains more than 500,000 exhibits from all periods of French military history. Its World War I section contains large collections of uniforms and weapons.

Les Invalides, Paris

Neuville-St. Vast German Military Cemetery

This cemetery, founded by the French in 1919 to bury German soldiers, also known as Maison Blanche, is the largest in France. A sea of metal crosses, installed in the 1970s to replace the former wooden ones, contains 44,533 burials, with four soldiers in each grave. There is also a mass grave containing the remains of more than 8,000 soldiers.

Near Arras

Notre Dame de Lorette

Religious buildings have occupied this ridge northwest of Arras since the 18th century, but the basilica and ossuary now on the site were built in 1921 as memorials to French soldiers who died in the Artois area during the battles of 1914, 1915 and 1917. The cemetery later became a national necropolis, and the ossuary contains the remains of some 23,000 unidentified soldiers from both World Wars, as well as the French conflicts in Algeria and Indochina. The basilica, designed by Louis-Marie Cordonnier, is decorated with colorful mosaics. The cemetery surrounding the basilica and ossuary covers an area of 13 hectares (32 acres) and contains 45,000 burials, most of which are from World War I. Outside the cemetery is a military museum with dioramas, uniforms, artillery pieces, photographs and a reconstructed trench and bunker system. Outside the museum the original trenches have been restored.

Ablain-Saint-Nazaire, near Arras.

Battlefield of the Somme

The Somme region, site of one of the greatest and most expensive battles in human history, is one of the main centers of military tourism. To get the most out of your visit, it is recommended that you purchase a guide to the battle sites or join a tour led by one of the specialized companies operating in the area. The officially recommended "Tour of Remembrance" covers the towns of Albert (including the 1916 Somme Trench Museum and the Albert Communal Cemetery run by the CWGC), Beaumont-Gamel, Thiepval, Oviller-la-Boiselle (site of the Lochnagar Crater), Longueval (including the New Zealand Memorial and the Piper Memorial) and Peronne. All of these sites have a concentration of attractions including cemeteries, war relics, museums and memorials. Ammunition and artifacts are regularly dug up around the Somme (remember not to touch any ammunition you may find). The best way to get around the battlefield is by car, as many places are easily accessible from the A29 or A1 freeways.

Somme

Memorial to the missing persons in Tiepala

This huge memorial in Thiepval was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and unveiled by Edward, Prince of Wales, in 1932.The names of 73,357 Allied soldiers who died on the Somme between 1916 and 1918 but have no grave are embossed on its surface. A commemorative ceremony is held here annually on July 1.

Thiepval, Somme

INDIA

India Gateway

The India Gate in Delhi, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and built between 1921 and 1931, commemorates all Indian soldiers who died in World War I and the Third Afghan War of 1919. Originally called the All India War Memorial, the arch stands 42 m (137 ft) tall and has the names of over 70,000 men engraved on it. Beneath the arch is the flame of an immortal warrior (Amar Jawan Jyoti), as well as the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The cenotaph is surrounded by four burning torches, which are constantly maintained.

Located at Rajpath, Delhi

IRELAND

Irish National Memorial Gardens

These gardens, created in memory of the 49,400 Irish soldiers who died in the First World War, were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens in the 1930s. The park covers an area of 8 hectares (20 acres) and includes a sunken rose garden and two bookrooms containing honor rolls with the names of the dead. It is also home to the Guinchy Cross, a wooden monument built by soldiers of the Irish 16th Division and originally erected on the Somme battlefield. On the floor of the domed church on the banks of the River Liffey, at the north end of the garden, is inscribed a passage from Rupert Brooke's 'War Sonnet II: Security'.

Islandbridge, Dublin

ISRAEL

KRGK Ramleh Cemetery

Established in December 1917 to serve the field hospitals in the area, the Ramleh (now Ramla) Cemetery was subsequently enriched by graves transferred here from other cemeteries in Palestine and Israel. Ramleh was occupied by the First Australian Light Horse Brigade from November 1917. The cemetery contains 3,300 World War I burials, about 1,200 World War II burials and a number of other non-Commonwealth and non-combat burials. There is also a memorial dedicated to Commonwealth, German and Turkish soldiers buried elsewhere in Palestine and Israel, in cemeteries that are no longer maintained. The memorial was built in 1961.

Near Ramla

ITALY

Sacrario Militario Di Redipuglia.

Built under Mussolini and opened in 1938, the Sacrario Militare di Redipuglia is a military shrine in northern Italy, on the slopes of Monte Sei Busi, at the eastern end of the Isonzo front. Here rest the remains of over 100,000 Italian soldiers who died during World War I - the 22 steps leading to the top of the shrine alone contain the remains of 40,000 soldiers. The tomb also contains the graves of five generals and the Duke of Aosta, commander of the Third Army. The shrine grounds include a chapel and a museum with an impressive collection of artifacts from the Italian front and some original trench fortifications.

Monte Sei Bouzi

ITALY/SLOVENIA

The battlefields of the Isonzo Front

In terms of battlefield tourism, the Isonzo Front is often overlooked in favor of battlefields in France and Belgium, but it is no less rich in heritage and attractions. The difficulties in visiting the Isonzo Front lie in the long distances and difficult terrain. A typical route might run from Kranjska Gora in northwest Slovenia to Duino on the Adriatic coast in northeast Italy, although there are many other options. Highlights include the Soča Valley with its many positions and gun emplacements in the cliffs, the Vršić Pass, built by Russian prisoners in 1916, and the Kluse Fortress with its military tunnels. In the Slovenian town of Kobarid (Caporetto during World War I), you can walk through the former trenches. The town also has an excellent museum dedicated to the fierce fighting on the Izonzo front, with scale maps, terrain models, artifacts and photographs.

The long Slo-Venne/Italian border

NEW ZEALAND

Oakland War Memorial Museum

Built in the 1850s and better known as the Auckland Museum, it contains extensive general collections on all of New Zealand's history, not just military history. The modern extension, which opened in 1929, was built to commemorate the many lives lost during the First World War in the province of Auckland. The walls of the World War I shrine are mottled with the names of fallen soldiers whose graves are unknown. Beneath the central stained glass hatch are the badges of their units and regiments.

The War Memorial galleries and the Armory Information Center display extensive collections and research materials related to the war. The museum often hosts events, lectures and exhibitions, especially on memorial days. The database contains bibliographic information on 35,000 New Zealanders who have died in wars since the late nineteenth century.

Auckland

ROMANIA

Marasesti Mausoleum

The Mausoleum of Heroes of the War for National Unity, built between 1923 and 1938, is an imposing monument to the Romanians who died in World War I. The Battle of Marasesti in 1917 was the last major battle on the Romanian front before the occupation of the country. The Battle of Marasesti in 1917 was the last major battle on the Romanian front before the occupation of the country. The mausoleum is about 30 m (100 ft) high, and its crypts contain the remains of 6,000 Romanian soldiers. The mausoleum also contains the sarcophagus of General Eremia Grigorescu, who died in 1919, and a rotunda with flags of Romanian units that fought in Marasesti. The main building is crowned with the "Dome of Glory". The large bas-relief on the dome depicts scenes from the Battle of Marasesti.

Between Fochan and Ajud, Vrancha County.

TURKEY

The battlefield of Gallipoli

The historic national park on the Gallipoli Peninsula is one of the most interesting places for tourists and researchers of military history. Covering an area of about 33,000 hectares (81,500 acres), it includes 31 CWGC cemeteries containing 22,000 graves, most of which are easily accessible, and numerous memorials.

There are three main areas of interest: Cape Helles (V-Beach Cemetery, Helles Memorial and Redoubt Cemetery); Pine Ridge (Beach Cemetery, Outpost No. 2 Cemetery, Courtney and Steel Post Cemetery, Chunuck Bear Cemetery and Memorial, Fourth Battalion Parade Ground Cemetery and Lone Pine Cemetery and Memorial); and Suvla (Green Hill Cemetery and Anzac Cemetery); and Suvla (Green Hill Cemetery and Anzac Cemetery). The main sights can be seen in one day, but it is recommended that two or three days be set aside for a more thorough exploration. Also worth seeing at Cape Helles is the Canakale Martyrs' Memorial, the main memorial to the Turkish dead at Gallipoli.

On April 25, Anzac Day, special services are held in Gallipoli to commemorate the first day of the 1915 Gallipoli Campaign when Australian and New Zealand troops landed at Anzac Bay.

Gallipoli Peninsula

UNITED KINGDOM

Brookwood Military Cemetery

This cemetery predates the First World War, but the plot for military burials was allocated in 1917, mainly to accommodate the graves of servicemen who died of battle wounds in the London area. It is now the largest Commonwealth war cemetery in the UK. Although most burials date from 1939-1945, there are 1,601 graves from the First World War. Brookwood Memorial 1914-18 commemorates over 200 Commonwealth servicemen who died during the First World War for whom no graves have been found. Brookwood is home to the World War I American Military Cemetery, which contains 468 graves dedicated to 563 U.S. servicemen whose graves have not been located.

Brookwood, Surrey

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

This towering monument in Kansas City is the United States National World War I Memorial. Dedicated by President Calvin Coolidge on November 11, 1926, it was designed in the Egyptian Revival style by Harold Van Buren Mahonigle, who won the commission in a competition organized by the American Institute of Architects.

The centerpiece is the 217-foot tall Memorial Tower. Memorial Tower. Its four figures symbolize courage, honor, sacrifice and patriotism. At night, a jet of steam bursts out of the tower, illuminated with orange light, giving the impression of a burning fire. The wall of the Great Frieze depicts the transition from war to peace, and another memorial wall features bronze busts of the five Allied leaders who attended the dedication of the memorial.

The memorial's affiliated museum, opened in 2006, is one of the finest centers for the study of World War I in the United States. In addition to an extensive display of documents and photographs, the museum features a Renault FY-17 tank, replica trenches, Paul von Hindenburg's field jacket, and propaganda posters.

Kansas City, Missouri