Adjoining the grounds of France’s largest military cemetery, outside the village of Ablain-Saint-Nazaire, the International Memorial of Notre Dame de Lorette offers a poetic tribute to lives lost during World War I. Inaugurated this past November to mark the centennial of the war’s outbreak, the memorial was conceived by Paris architect Philippe Prost as a minimalist concrete oval, nearly 1,080 feet around, with a section dramatically cantilevered above a depression in the grassy terrain. A walkway runs along the entirety of the structure’s interior, inviting visitors to reflect on the names of 579,606 combatants who died in northern France during the war. Inscribed on spotlighted panels of bronzed stainless steel, the heartbreakingly long list includes citizens of not only France but also the other countries involved in the conflict. Identifying everyone required years of intensive work, making the memorial a piece of poignant research writ large, as well as a powerful symbol of global sacrifice and unity.
