One of the many joys of living in a capital city is the ability to participate in much of the pomp and circumstance associated with a Nation’s history and culture. In Ottawa, we live surrounded by this – from Royal visits and Canada Day concerts on the Hill, to the solemn ceremonies of Remembrance Day – and watch as our city, which really belongs to the whole country in many ways, be broadcast from coast to coast.
But while these moments of celebration and reflection are temporal, lasting only a few hours at a time, it is the physical markers – the monuments and plaques – that allow us to be connected to these memories and moments in a permanent and almost eternal way, from one generation to the next. And we create these monuments to act as places of collective memory and points of common understanding, for both those who call Canada home, as well as for those who are visiting.
In honour of Remembrance Day, we would like take today to look at the physical places of remembrance within our city.
As both a central focus for the ceremonies on Remembrance Day, as well as for the city in its physical geography, Canada’s National War Memorial on Elgin Street, uses its sheer scale, and subtle design, to capture both your attention and memory. Sited on a large triangular pedestrian island, known as Confederation Square, the memorial acts as an isolated piece of urbanism, frozen from the traffic of vehicles, and the rest of the city on either side. This allows for one’s attention to be brought skyward to the large granite cenotaph, depicting Canadian soldiers during the first World War, as well as angels representing freedom and peace.
The monument, original constructed after the First World War, has since been rededicated to include both the Second World War and Korean War, and is now also home to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. And it is perhaps this place, where our national Remembrance Day ceremonies are held, and where those who attend will leave their poppies on the tomb, that becomes the true heart of country, each November 11th.
Opened in 2005, and located on LeBreton Flats, the new Canadian War Museum uses its architectural language, and position in relation to the sun, to create moving moments of light, shadow, and hope. Using concrete formwork from the eras of the war, along with angular walls which both seem to penetrate the ground and soar upwards, a feeling of being in a war-time bunker is unmistakable. There is a sense of great darkness inside as you slope downwards into the exhibition halls, yet this is counter balanced by both the landscaped roof garden, which almost camouflages the building into its natural surroundings, and Memorial Hall, where a perfectly aligned window allow for the sun to focus on the headstone of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I.
But what makes this illumination so moving is that it happens solely on November 11th, at 11am, signifying the time of the end of the First World War. This act of representation is given added meaning, as the window also aligns with Parliament Hill’s Peace Tower. It is, therefore, through the architecture that we can both remember the past, and look hopefully towards a future of peace.
In addition to these two monuments of remembrance in Ottawa, it was announced this past spring that a parcel of land adjacent to the War Museum , at the corner of Wellington and Booth streets, will become home to the new National Holocaust Monument. This multi-million-dollar commission, which has an expected date of completion set for Fall 2015, has been shortlisted as of this past October to six teams of finalist, and whose proposed designs will be made public in February. Names of those selected include star architect Daniel Libeskind, and Canadian Landscape artist Edward Burtynsky.
The monument is meant to act as a symbol of the need to preserve human rights around the world, and promises to be a striking addition to Ottawa’s places of remembrance. But as this project is still in its design phase, we would like to know, what would you like to see included in the design of the new National Holocaust Monument? And in what ways can the design of this monument reflect our contemporary understandings of the past, and of a history that can be hard to reconcile, while still evoking sentiments of hope? For it is a hope for future peace that these monuments and buildings ultimately strive for, by reminding us of how hard it has been to protect it.
This post is in remembrance of all those who have made sacrifices for peace.
Image: The Canadian War Museum with site for the new National Holocaust Memorial in red, provided by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada, handout photo