Sunday, May 24, 2009

Australian War Memorial

In honor of Memorial Day here in the US, I've decided to focus on a monument most of us probably aren't familiar with -the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Australia's capital.The memorial was first conceived after WW I. However, a competition for the design of the structure wasn't completed until 1928. Because of the great depression, the monument then wasn't finished till 1941. The style remains Art Deco which was popular at the time. Housed in the building is also an Australian military museum.interior of the dome above the Hall of Memory. Stained glass depicting the virtues of soldiers surround the space, you can see one of them above. They were completed by Napier Waller, a 1-armed veteran who also did all of the mosiac work here in the hall.The central courtyard.
The cloisters around the pool contain rolls of honors to commemorate the 102,000 soldiers who died in the field throughout the numerous battles Australia has participated in. The rolls list name only, because, as it states, "all men are equal in death".
Top image courtesy of Les Butcher on Flickr.com. All others from wikipedia.org

10 comments:

Viera said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog and also posting about our fantastic example of architecture here in Australia.

Have a fabulous week
X
V

Rose C'est La Vie said...

Stunning photos, Stefan. Certainly a fitting memorial to the fallen and I *love* the wall of names and poppies.

Terry said...

Very fitting to honor our Australian friends this Memorial Day weekend. Their day of remembrance is Anzac Day, April 25. If I may, I'll give a shout out to Mackenzie J Gregory, Australian Navy WW2 vet and naval historian. I've never met him but I've been helping him on the web for almost 8 years. The honor has been all mine.

Porchlight Interiors said...

Lovely surprise to see this beautiful Australian monument as part of your memorial day post! Tracey xx

Charlie said...

Great post! It is so beautiful and unexpected. Hope you have a lovely Memorial Day!

Zelda said...

VERY impressive monument ,

Anonymous said...

Great post. Nice selection of photos.

pve design said...

I really want to go to Australia and see this in person.
Looks amazing.
pve

Beth Connolly said...

Lovely post-I especially like the red poppies that friends and relatives can put next to the names.

Vasudha Narasimhan said...

hi.... lovely blog.... the pictures are beautiful... reflects your passion in this field. please do visit my blog....