Cemetaries of the Salient.

serie Cemetaries of the Salient

?Perhaps the pyramids of Giza are the most important architectural monuments of history. Or else Macchu Picchu. Or the Acropolis. Or Stonehenge. ??No matter how different these monuments may be, and how far the periods in which they were built may lie apart, they always have one aspect in common. Without exception they are created as a tribute to rulers or gods. They are their temples, their altars of sacrafice, their churches or  places of amusement, established in their name.

??The cemeteries for British soldiers of the First World War, are the first monuments in all of history that are devoted to ordinary mortals. To the soldiers who were victims of history. When the surface area of all the different cemeteries, about a thousand in total, would be added together, the sum would also make it the most extensive monument of all time. The quality of the architecture and the ideas behind the design, make them far more important than random assembly places of the dead. John Keegan, author of "The First World War" called them "an archipelago of gardened cemetaries, breathtaking in their beauty." ??

For the first time in history a huge effort has been made to find the dead, identify them and bring them together, often at the same spot where they fell. Until then, all soldiers from all wars, from ancient times up to the First World War, disappeared into mass graves and remained nameless.

While battles, traditionally recorded in myths, legends and historical records, were displayed in images of triumph, victory and power, those who fought the battles remained nameless for ever. Their pain inaudible and never heard, their agony invisible and never seen. Grief of bereaved never described, never shared. Bodies remained untraceable forever. Lives, barely begun, were never lived and disappeared into oblivion. ??The idea that safeguarding bodies and thereby the names of the fallen, and to make them traceable again has developed into reality, came true through the efforts of one man alone. How anyone could start with such a huge commission, initially only given by himself to himself, is almost impossible to comprehend. The realization that millions of dead soldiers had to be found and then buried or reburied, would have discouraged any other. ??But not Fabian Ware. In 1914 he himself was too old to enlist as a soldier. He volunteered for the Red Cross, and became commander of a medical unit which was responsible for the transport of the wounded. At the front he saw the huge losses and the makeshift cemeteries, often constructed during combat breaks. He did not accept the fact that the fallen would remain untraceable and decided to take  notes from what he found and could record. Until that time, no specific efforts were made ??to document or even to write down these names. ??For the first time in history, someone realized it was unacceptable for next of kin, and for history, that the dead  would remain lost forever. In 1915  he started to archive, describe and store names and locations of these hastily made cemeteries ??and their dead. ??Fabian Ware did not continue his efforts alone for long. The army leadership realized that the construction of war cemeteries would be good for the morale of the army and the home front. He got the opportunity, men and material to expand his activities, even during and sometimes amidst the trench warfare, that would drag on for three years from that moment on, in 1915. The task he started would take decades and even now is still not accomplished, since there are new findings occasionally. His task was taken over, still during the war by a newly established institution that is responsible for the care for the cemeteries untill today; the Imperial War Graves Commision, the later Commonwealth War Graves Commision. And from that committee Fabian Ware becam the first director.

??Fabian Ware realized that the permanent war cemeteries that he would have to create should become timeless memorials and that their design had to have an everlasting quality.  In 1917 he appointed two renowned British architects of that time as his  advisors: Edward Lutyens and Herbert Baker. In 1917 during the war, all three of them visited the battlefield. Ware also asked one of the most famous poets of that time; Rudyard Kipling – who was torn by the loss of his own, only son in the same war- to write the sober lines of poetry  that would be part of the most important monuments on the cemetaries.

Just like architecture, language was an indispensable tool. The monuments, architecture and language together would have to unite into one form. Individual expressions of kin would only have a limited place. The loss of all would be summarized and reflected into a few simple sentences. "Their name liveth for evermore" was the key phrase that expressed the whole purpose of the cemeteries. It  was placed on the Stone of Remembrance, which can be found on the larger cemeteries. ??For the first time in history, war victims got their name back. The names of those who were missing, were carved on marble slabs. They can be found in many cemeteries on a circular wall which was founded on the back. Every inch of wall and ceiling of the famous Menin Gate in Ypres, where every day the Last Post is still sounded, is covered with over fiftyfourthousand names of the missing.

??It does not seem much; a name, in comparasson to the loss of life. Yet, even now, many are still looking for those names. The guest books that can be found at the entry gates often contain small messages. "I found my great great grand uncle on this cemetary", or "I'm looking for all the Harrisons, -my familyname- all long the Ypres Salient." And the most tragic I've seen, a long time ago when I was twenty years old and for the first time in the vicinity of Ypres. "Daddy, I have been looking for you, but I could not find you." Written in the hesitant handwriting of an elderly.

?The cemeteries of the First World War are scattered all over the landscape, as white specks in the former battlefield of Flanders. There are so many of them,  that it's impossible to visit them all. They repeat the same message a hundred times, but differently in every place. The story of war , death and loss, seems new again in every location and is retold each time without the monotony of serial and soulless repetition that often marks war cemetaries in other countries. The most important elements like the Stone of Remembrance, and the War Cross however, are always equal and equally situated. ??The more cemeteries you find, the more they seem to differ, and the better you learn to identify these differences. The strict rules the designs had to comply with, were varied upon endlessly  by the junior architects who worked with the handbook that was drafted by Lutyens and Baker for the CWCG. That intent, in which different architects varied with their own convictions and ideas and fitted the cemetaries carefully in the surrounding landscape, supervised by Lutyens and Baker was perhaps the main reason that the cemeteries got such a great quality. ??

The Dutch architect Jeroen Geurst, wrote the standard work on the architecture of the cemetaries designed by Lutyens himself ."Cemetaries of the Great War by Sir Edwin Lutyens." Through his book, that was published in 2010, it becomes clear how quality is created by varying and playing with strict rules, as laid down in the design handbook written by  Lutyens and Baker. The quality and variety didn’t come from form richness and shape differences, but stemmed from the endless variation with austere but balanced shapes that are recognizable as basic forms, but situated differently each tim. Consequently, as in music, where varying on a theme is an important basis, new rhythms and structures become clear. Even the arrangement of the tombstones is always different. And every variation in their ranking has a reason and meaning. If you do not know why the groups and rows sometimes are interrupted, suddenly bent or stand obliquely to each other to form, you may think that the shapes they form are mysterious codes. In the book of Geurst these codes are also interpreted and explained and meanings are carefully unraveled. For example: when a series of tombstones stands in a circle, it means that victims buried there have fallen at exactly the same time as a result of a major mine explosion. ??The variation on each theme becomes more evident with every cemetery you visit. Again and again, place and plot shape of the cemeteries in the landscape lead to other solutions. The integration into the landscape give them the self-evident naturalness of well-landscaped gardens. Even the largest; Tyne Cot, does not dominate the area. The walls around it are low, and the area is visible from everywhere, like a living map seen through the hilly landscape. ??The key principles that are reflected in all the cemeteries are: equality between soldiers and officers. For any place and adornment this was was the same: regimental emblem and sometimes a religious symbol placed together on exactly equal stones. No difference between religions and no overly recognizable Christian symbolism should be visible. Only the name was important, being the only unique reminder of an individual. ??There was no distinction between battles, large or small, important or unimportant. Just the fact that someone was lost counted. Whether it happened in the most glorious battle, in a casual quarrel or ambush, made ??no difference. There is no triumphalism to be seen. The monuments have a classic look, but they are timeless. The precision with which materials are used and their precise and exact dimensions and balanced proportions, not only in, but also between all elements are of a stunning perfection. ??Places that otherwise would remain  dreary and anonymous storerooms with hollow militaristic heroism as can be found in so many other places, now are sober memorials and places of commemoration. Places where oblivion, if only briefly, is broken by each visitor who , sometimes randomly, sometimes deliberately, reads the names. Those visitors are always and everywhere present. At Tyne Cot Cemetary in great numbers, but also on the smaller cemeteries. The attention which has been given to the design and the attention with which they are maintained  evokes  respect and great attention in every visitor.

??There are no other places where you are so close to the Great War as here. Not in the many museums, not before the showcases with weapons and uniforms and not at the memorials. Together, the cemeteries still form a legible and visible footprint of the war. Their place in the field is not accidental. They are often located in a network of front lines, rail links, watercourses or firstaidposts  that have dissapeared, Sometimes they are at the exact same spot  where soldiers have fallen, Or if the injured had already died before they could be evacuated and their travel could begin, near railway stations, Often the origin of a cemetarie can be derived from it’s name. The largest cemetery in East Flanders is called Tyne Cot, meaning tiny cot, a blockhouse, captured on the Germans, that first served as a dressing station. The place where the tiny cot stood is still the center of the cemetary, and the first victims lying there were buried directly around it. But other names in other places are also revealing and often sound like short, stark lines of poetry: No Man's Cot: a shed in No man's land. Lone Tree Cemetary: there still is a lone huge tree at the entrance. St. Julien's dressing station: an example of a cemetery right next to a first aid post. Track X cemetary near a long gone railway.

?While the surrounding landscape is changing, sometimes even into suburbs, the cemeteries remain themselves. The greater the contrast with the environment, the more bright they seem to light up, and  the clearer they tell their story. They often feel crisper, newer and greener than the surrounding area, that grew around them  so much later, sometimes messy and chaotic, with the indeferrent ugliness that is typical for todays rural landscape of Flanders.

?The cemeteries, by contrast, are the only places where landscaping and architecture are carefully planned and stem  from a clear concept. ??The main principle is that they are designed as cathedrals in the open air. The sky is the dome that overspans them. Trees are the pillars supporting the dome. Grass is the floor. If more than twelve hundred dead are buried there, an altar-like stone, the Stone of Remembrance,  designed by Lutyens himself, is present. The stone resembles the archetype of the offertory, found in every temple in ancient times untill now, and is also a symbolic altar. In the design of Lutyens you can see how the architect sought for perfect proportions in his classicist approach. The shape and material of the Warstone itself creates the association with a sacrificial altar and the relationships between the elements of which the stone is built. The first step towards the stone is a raised platform that protrudes just above ground level. Closer to the stone itself, there are two smaller steps. That small rise in three steps is enough to slightly uplift the stone above the ground and make it into a solemn symbol of remebrance.??The planting brings the seasons and their continual change close to, and even upon the graves. Life is literally embedded with death and the contrast between the changing life and the serene white surface of the stone offers solace, even to the visitor who has lost nothing or nobody. Inevitably that visitor reflects on his own death. Here death is present in the most natural and unobtrusive way that you can think of. Here death doesn’t seem irrevocabel, unchangeable, sad and heavy, but remains connected with life, and life literally embraces it. When you are in such an open-air cathedral, the space surrounding it feels like an outdoor area and it's like you're secluded by an invisible dome that separates you from this environment. The transition from inside the low walls to the outside feels like the transition between a cathedral of stone and the open air after walking outside through a huge  gate. Yet the walls are so low that you also could easily step over them. How easy it may be, no one actually does that. The striping of the paths and the structure of the plan guide you. You follow and obey the paths untill beyond the exit. ??Decades of agriculture have led to a gradual leveling of the land, not only of the cratered war zone, but also of the smaller hills that, are gradually smoothed like a wrinkly shirt under an iron, for reason of drainage and efficiency. But not within the walls of a war cemetery. The graves still follow the outline of the hills as they once were in the period 1914-18. Sometimes, the rows of graves meander along with the course of a road, a stream or a path that are no longer there. In this way they reflect old contours and show the remaining shadows of the geographical history and the Great War that has been fought here. ??From Spanbroekmolen cemetery for example,  you can still see the high churchtower from where a lost battalion was shot at.  The cemetery lies on the almost lowest point in the landscape and the soldiers were there because of a fatal mistake in orientation. A single meter in height of terrain between two hostile armies could have enormous strategic significance, and make a huge difference in scope and field of fire, and meant that one party could hit the other far more easy, and even leave it defenceless.  The position of the cemetary is exactly there where the man were trapped and fell, and tells one of these hidden but still readable stories of war.

??The trees, so essential to the idea and design, increasingly dissappear and are no longer present on many cemetaries. Where they are gone and not replanted, the invisible walls around the cemeteries have disappeared. The high dome has collapsed and the separation between the cemetery and surrounding area is gone. Budget cuts, serviceability and efficiency lead to a continuing erosion, and thus loss of the ideas that the design is determined by. Now matter how fresh the planting is and how green the grass remains and how well the grounds are maintained, there  still is a process ongoing of creeping decay, of the landscape architecture, and thus aloss of the atmosphere and the feeling that belonged to these places.

?For the CWCG only the names are important. As long as they are clearly legible on the white stones, their mission is fulfilled. The name and the name only is sacred, coming from the Old Testamentical idea that a man is only forgotten when his name can no longer be found. Therefore a damaged or broken stone is replaced very soon. Of all the names on all the stones on all the cemetaries not one may be weathered or erased. ??To really experience the importance of the cemeteries you will have to visit them yourself. An app called "Warmemorials" is a wonderful and indispensable tool to help you wander through Flanders Fields. From place to place the app indicates the nearest location from the spot where you find yourself. In this way you can keep wandering, and let yourself be surprised by the next discovery. The most impressive cemeteries are not always the largest. Traveling crisscross from place to place often means falling from one surprise and discovery into another, sometimes hidden surprise. The smaller and quieter and more remote the cemetery is located, the closer the First World War seems to be.