In part two of our ongoing feature Different By Design, we focus on the Canadian National Vimy Memorial which solemnly honours Canada’s fallen soldiers from the Battle of Vimy Ridge. On April 9th, 2017, it was the 100th anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge where 3,600 Canadian Soldiers died and another 7,000 were injured. Vimy Ridge marked the first time that all four Canadian Divisions participated in the same battle as one formation and is widely credited as a defining moment in Canadian History where Canada forged its own identity as a young nation capable of great things.
In 1920, The Canadian Government established the Canadian Battlefields Memorials Commission with
the mandate to construct an identical monument at a variety of locations in France and Belgium. The Commission announced a design contest open to all Canadian artists, sculptors, designers and architects. They received 160 submissions.
One such submission came from Toronto sculptor Walter Seymour Allward who would eventually go on to win the competition.
Allward’s design was so site specific and complicated that the Commission and the Government decided
that they would alter the rules and construct it only at the 250 acre site at Vimy Ridge that France had
donated in gratitude in 1922.
Upon winning the competition, Allward then sold his home and studio in Toronto and prepared to move
to Europe to begin work. He spent nearly two years searching for the right stone, eventually settling on Seget limestone from Croatia.
Construction began in 1925 and took 11 years to complete at a cost of $1.5 million-dollars. The memorial was unveiled in 1936 with great fanfare.
During the Second World War, the area where the memorial sits was overrun by the German Army. The
news of destruction was widely reported. To prove that the memorial was intact, Hitler, who reportedly admired the memorial for its beauty and peaceful nature, toured the site in 1940 and was photographed standing in front of it.
The Vimy Memorial was designated as a National Historic Site of Canada in 1996 and underwent a $30
million-dollar restoration. It was unveiled on April 9th, 2007 – the 90th anniversary of the battle.
For more information on the Vimy Ridge Monument and Walter Seymour Allward, please
visit:
http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/overseas/first-world-war/france/vimy
https://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2017/04/02/the-forgotten-man-behind-the-unforgettable-vimy-memorial.html
