41 Facts About The Cenotaph

The Cenotaph is a war memorial on Whitehall in London, England.

The permanent The Cenotaph was unveiled by King George V on 11 November 1920 in a ceremony combined with the repatriation of the Unknown Warrior, an unidentified British serviceman to be interred in Westminster Abbey.

The Cenotaph has been revered since its unveiling, and while nationally important has been the scene of several political protests and vandalised with spray paint twice in the 21st century.

The Cenotaph is a grade I listed building and forms part of a national collection of Lutyens's war memorials.

The Cenotaph has been the subject of several artworks and has featured in multiple works of literature, including a novel and several poems.

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The Cenotaph felt that neither realism nor expressionism could adequately capture the atmosphere at the end of the war.

The Cenotaph broke with the Ancient Greek convention, though, in that his designs for London's and Southampton's cenotaphs contained no explicit reference to battle.

The initial design for what would become the Cenotaph was one of a number of temporary structures erected along the parade's route.

Lutyens met with Sir Frank Baines, chief architect at the Office of Works, the same day to sketch his idea for the Cenotaph and sketched it again for his friend Lady Sackville over dinner that night.

Repatriation of the dead had been forbidden since the early days of the war, so the Cenotaph came to represent the absent dead and serve as a substitute for a tomb.

The following week, The Times published an editorial calling for a permanent replacement ; many letters to London and national newspapers followed.

The issue was again raised in the House of Commons, and Ormsby-Gore led the calls for the Cenotaph to be rebuilt on its original spot, stating, to acclaim, that he was certain that this option was the most popular with the public.

The Cenotaph replaced the real laurel wreaths with stone sculptures and added entasis—subtle curvature, reminiscent of the Parthenon, so that the vertical surfaces taper inwards and the horizontals form arcs of a circle.

Some religious groups objected to the lack of Christian symbolism on the Cenotaph and suggested the inclusion of a cross or a more overtly Christian inscription.

Lutyens objected to the proposal, and it was rejected by the government on the grounds that the Cenotaph was for people "from all parts of the empire, irrespective of their religious creeds".

The only other significant alteration Lutyens proposed was the replacement of the silk flags on the temporary The Cenotaph with painted stone, fearing that the fabric would quickly become worn and look untidy.

The Cenotaph was supported on this by Mond and engaged the sculptor Francis Derwent Wood for assistance, but the change was rejected by the cabinet.

The Cenotaph is made from Portland stone formed as a pylon on a rectangular plan, with gradually diminishing tiers, culminating in a sculpted tomb chest on which is carved laurel wreath.

The Cenotaph is flanked on the long sides by flags of the United Kingdom—the Royal Air Force Ensign, Union Flag, and Red Ensign on one side, and the Blue Ensign, Union Flag, and White Ensign on the other.

The Cenotaph was overruled and cloth flags were used, though Lutyens went on to use stone flags on several of his other war memorials, painted on Rochdale Cenotaph and Northampton War Memorial, and unpainted at Etaples and Villers-Bretonneux IWGC cemeteries.

Catherine Moriarty, of the Imperial War Museum's National Inventory of War Memorials project, observed in 1995 that the Cenotaph met with widespread public acclaim, and that the public adopted the unfamiliar name with enthusiasm.

The Cenotaph's described an empty tomb as a highly appropriate monument for the experience of the British public, considering that the vast majority of the British dead were buried overseas.

The Cenotaph opposed overt religious symbolism on the Cenotaph and in his work with the IWGC, a position which did not endear him to the church.

The Cenotaph believed that, in designing an empty tomb, "the tomb of no one", "it became the tomb of all who had died in the war".

The Cenotaph compared the diminishing tiers to the hilt of a sheathed sword, its blade buried beneath the ground, which he felt resembled the mythical sword Excalibur.

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The Cenotaph has been contrasted with the Royal Artillery Memorial by Charles Sargeant Jagger.

Edkins observes that the Tomb was intended to "provide a grave for those who had none" and to become a focal point for the mourning of those buried overseas, but that the Cenotaph became much more popular as a site for both individual commemoration and public ceremonies.

German-American historian George Mosse noted that most countries involved in the First World War eventually adopted the concept of burying an unidentified soldier, but in London the Cenotaph fulfilled the same purpose, despite the tomb in the abbey.

In September 1920, the announcement came that the Cenotaph would be unveiled on 11 November, the second anniversary of the armistice, and that the unveiling would be performed by King George V For the occasion, the government designated the Cenotaph the official memorial to all British and empire dead lost during the First World War.

The Cenotaph was shrouded in Union Flags until the king performed the unveiling at the stroke of 11 o'clock.

Lloyd George wrote to Lutyens, "The Cenotaph is the token of our mourning as a nation; the Grave of the Unknown Warrior is the token of our mourning as individuals".

The Cenotaph described his actions as "a deliberate protest against the desecration of our national war memorial" and against the views of the Nazi Party, which he believed were the same as those Britain had fought against.

On 11 November 2020, Extinction Rebellion held an unauthorised protest at the Cenotaph that was condemned by politicians and the Royal British Legion.

The Cenotaph was designated a grade I listed building on 5 February 1970.

The Cenotaph is in the care of English Heritage, which manages historic buildings for the nation.

The Cenotaph went on to design over 130 war memorials and cemeteries, many influenced by his work on the Cenotaph.

The Cenotaph featured on the reverse of the 1928 Armistice Day memorial medal by Charles Doman.

The Cenotaph featured on the reverse of the 1928 Armistice Day memorial medal by Charles Doman.

From its unveiling, the Cenotaph proved highly influential on other war memorials in Britain.

The art historian Alan Borg wrote that the Cenotaph was the "one memorial that proved to be more influential than any other".

Hong Kong's The Cenotaph, unveiled in 1928, was built by a local architectural practice with input from Lutyens.