L-er
January 13th, 2006, 12:03 AM
the Menin Gate
In Flanders stands the ancient town of Ypres. Once a centre of the flanders wool trade, it became one of the most important European city-states of the 13th Century. In 1260, Ypres had a population of some 40,000 - more than the population today. At the same time another great city, Oxford in England, had a population of only 4,200.
The area has been fought over, through the centuries by the Dutch, the French, the Spanish - no wonder that the area was called "The Cockpit of Europe." But it was the Great War which resulted in the destruction of the town, and the loss of its priceless mediaeval architecture.
The Menin Gate Memorial is perhaps the most visited Great War Memorial on the Western Front. (The only other serious contender is the Newfoundland Memorial Park near Beaumont-Hamel, on the Somme.)
Design
The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield. He was one of four Principle Architects engaged in directing the construction of over 1,200 British and Commonwealth cemeteries and memorials along the Western Front for the Imperial War Graves Commission (now named the Commonwealth War Graves Commission)
http://www.rotarykimboltoncastle.com/Menin%20Gate.JPG
Hall of Memory
The memorial is built of reinforced concrete faced with Euville stone and red brick. The single span Hall of Memory (36.5 metres long and 20 metres wide) is covered in by a coffered half-elliptical arch.
At both ends of the Hall of Memory there is an archway (9 metres wide and 14.5 metres high). There are two flat arches on either side of it (3.5 metres wide and nearly 7 metres high). Each of the flat arches is flanked on either side by an engaged Doric column and surmounted by an entablature.
East Side
Over each of the two central arches there is a large panel for the dedicatory inscription:
TO THE ARMIES
OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
WHO STOOD HERE
FROM 1914 TO 1918
AND TO THOSE OF THEIR DEAD
WHO HAVE NO KNOWN GRAVE
Above the panel on the east side, looking away from the city and facing the Ypres Salient battlefields, there is a lion lying down.
This feature was included to mark the fact that the Meenenpoorte (Menin Gate) at the start of the war in 1914 was guarded by two stone lions.
http://www.greatwar.co.uk/westfront/ypsalient/meningate/images/lion2_s.jpg
Engraved Names
The memorial contains the names of 54,896 officers and men from all the overseas British and Commonwealth forces who fell in the Ypres Salient before 16 August 1917.
Names are engraved in Portland stone panels fixed to the inner walls of the Hall, to the sides of the staircases and inside the loggias on the north and south sides of the building.
This memorial does not include the names of the missing of New Zealand and Newfoundland forces, who are named on separate memorials.
http://www.battlefield-tours.com/Menin%20Gate%20(names).jpg
http://www.nationalwarmemorial.govt.nz/unknown/images/menin1.jpg
http://gspep.smugmug.com/photos/28106158-M.jpg
the Last Post
In 1928, a year after the inauguration of the Menin Gate Memorial, a number of prominent citizens in Ypres decided that some way should be found to express the gratitude of the Belgian nation towards those who had died for its freedom and independence.From 11 November, 1929 the Last Post has been sounded at the Menin Gate memorial every night and in all weathers.
http://images.google.be/url?q=http://www.francisholland.org/nw1/img/Menin%2520Gate.JPG
http://www.holidaygateways.com/getimage.aspx.ID-29892.gif.jpg
http://www.epspipeband.ca/IMAGES/Juno%202004/IM001893.JPG
Some more pics.
http://www.the-better-ole.com/Menin%20Gate.jpg
http://www.ewhurstfallen.co.uk/Men-research/barnett/Menin-Gate-at-night.gif
http://www.whitbyhs.cheshire.sch.uk/curric/history/trips/battlefields/battlefields2004/meningate/meningate3.jpg
http://wso.williams.edu/~jharwell/hist13.jpg
http://www.flanderstours.co.uk/2004_tour_programme/Menin%20Gate%20Poppies.jpg
http://lizzie.spod.cx/piccies/Ypres%2022042005/s_dscf1559.jpg
http://www.worldwar1.com/heritage/jpg/2mg.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/peter.fairweather/docs/Menin_gate2.jpg
In Flanders stands the ancient town of Ypres. Once a centre of the flanders wool trade, it became one of the most important European city-states of the 13th Century. In 1260, Ypres had a population of some 40,000 - more than the population today. At the same time another great city, Oxford in England, had a population of only 4,200.
The area has been fought over, through the centuries by the Dutch, the French, the Spanish - no wonder that the area was called "The Cockpit of Europe." But it was the Great War which resulted in the destruction of the town, and the loss of its priceless mediaeval architecture.
The Menin Gate Memorial is perhaps the most visited Great War Memorial on the Western Front. (The only other serious contender is the Newfoundland Memorial Park near Beaumont-Hamel, on the Somme.)
Design
The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield. He was one of four Principle Architects engaged in directing the construction of over 1,200 British and Commonwealth cemeteries and memorials along the Western Front for the Imperial War Graves Commission (now named the Commonwealth War Graves Commission)
http://www.rotarykimboltoncastle.com/Menin%20Gate.JPG
Hall of Memory
The memorial is built of reinforced concrete faced with Euville stone and red brick. The single span Hall of Memory (36.5 metres long and 20 metres wide) is covered in by a coffered half-elliptical arch.
At both ends of the Hall of Memory there is an archway (9 metres wide and 14.5 metres high). There are two flat arches on either side of it (3.5 metres wide and nearly 7 metres high). Each of the flat arches is flanked on either side by an engaged Doric column and surmounted by an entablature.
East Side
Over each of the two central arches there is a large panel for the dedicatory inscription:
TO THE ARMIES
OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE
WHO STOOD HERE
FROM 1914 TO 1918
AND TO THOSE OF THEIR DEAD
WHO HAVE NO KNOWN GRAVE
Above the panel on the east side, looking away from the city and facing the Ypres Salient battlefields, there is a lion lying down.
This feature was included to mark the fact that the Meenenpoorte (Menin Gate) at the start of the war in 1914 was guarded by two stone lions.
http://www.greatwar.co.uk/westfront/ypsalient/meningate/images/lion2_s.jpg
Engraved Names
The memorial contains the names of 54,896 officers and men from all the overseas British and Commonwealth forces who fell in the Ypres Salient before 16 August 1917.
Names are engraved in Portland stone panels fixed to the inner walls of the Hall, to the sides of the staircases and inside the loggias on the north and south sides of the building.
This memorial does not include the names of the missing of New Zealand and Newfoundland forces, who are named on separate memorials.
http://www.battlefield-tours.com/Menin%20Gate%20(names).jpg
http://www.nationalwarmemorial.govt.nz/unknown/images/menin1.jpg
http://gspep.smugmug.com/photos/28106158-M.jpg
the Last Post
In 1928, a year after the inauguration of the Menin Gate Memorial, a number of prominent citizens in Ypres decided that some way should be found to express the gratitude of the Belgian nation towards those who had died for its freedom and independence.From 11 November, 1929 the Last Post has been sounded at the Menin Gate memorial every night and in all weathers.
http://images.google.be/url?q=http://www.francisholland.org/nw1/img/Menin%2520Gate.JPG
http://www.holidaygateways.com/getimage.aspx.ID-29892.gif.jpg
http://www.epspipeband.ca/IMAGES/Juno%202004/IM001893.JPG
Some more pics.
http://www.the-better-ole.com/Menin%20Gate.jpg
http://www.ewhurstfallen.co.uk/Men-research/barnett/Menin-Gate-at-night.gif
http://www.whitbyhs.cheshire.sch.uk/curric/history/trips/battlefields/battlefields2004/meningate/meningate3.jpg
http://wso.williams.edu/~jharwell/hist13.jpg
http://www.flanderstours.co.uk/2004_tour_programme/Menin%20Gate%20Poppies.jpg
http://lizzie.spod.cx/piccies/Ypres%2022042005/s_dscf1559.jpg
http://www.worldwar1.com/heritage/jpg/2mg.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/peter.fairweather/docs/Menin_gate2.jpg