Canadian National Vimy Memorial

Canadian National Vimy Memorial
Mémorial national du Canada à Vimy
Veterans Affairs Canada
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
A black and white drawing of a white limestone memorial built on the top of a hill. The memorial has a large front wall with rising steps on each end. Two large pylons of stone rise from a platform at the top of the wall.
Walter Allward's memorial design submission
For First World War Canadian dead and missing, presumed dead, in France
Unveiled26 July 1936 (1936-07-26)
By King Edward VIII
Location50°22′46″N 2°46′25″E / 50.37944°N 2.77361°E / 50.37944; 2.77361
near 
Vimy, Pas-de-Calais, France
Designed byWalter Seymour Allward
Commemorated11,169[Note 1]
To the valour of their countrymen in the Great War and in memory of their sixty thousand dead this monument is raised by the people of Canada.
French: À la vaillance de ses fils pendant la Grande Guerre et en mémoire de ses soixante mille morts, le peuple canadien a élevé ce monument.
Official nameVimy Ridge National Historic Site of Canada
Designated1996
Official nameFunerary and memory sites of the First World War (Western Front)
TypeCultural
Criteriai, ii, vi
Designated2023 (45th session)
Reference no.1567-PC03
Statistics source: Cemetery details. Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is a war memorial site in France dedicated to the memory of Canadian Expeditionary Force members killed during the First World War. It also serves as the place of commemoration for Canadian soldiers of the First World War killed or presumed dead in France who have no known grave. The monument is the centrepiece of a 100-hectare (250-acre) preserved battlefield park that encompasses a portion of the ground over which the Canadian Corps made their assault during the initial Battle of Vimy Ridge offensive of the Battle of Arras.

The Battle of Vimy Ridge was the first time all four divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force participated in a battle as a cohesive formation, and it became a Canadian national symbol of achievement and sacrifice. France ceded to Canada the perpetual use of a portion of land on Vimy Ridge on the understanding that Canada use the land to establish a battlefield park and memorial. Wartime tunnels, trenches, craters, and unexploded munitions still honeycomb the grounds of the site, which remains largely closed off for reasons of public safety. Along with preserved trench lines, several other memorials and cemeteries are contained within the park.

The project took designer Walter Seymour Allward eleven years to build. King Edward VIII unveiled it on 26 July 1936 in the presence of French President Albert Lebrun and a crowd of over 50,000 people, including 6,200 attendees from Canada. Following an extensive multi-year restoration, Queen Elizabeth II re-dedicated the monument on 9 April 2007 at a ceremony commemorating the 90th anniversary of the battle. The site is maintained by Veterans Affairs Canada. The Vimy Memorial is one of only two National Historic Sites of Canada located outside the country, the other being the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial.

  1. ^ Reynolds 2008, pp. 57–68.


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