What is the name of the biggest war memorial in belgium?
Hi J. It is the Menin Gate. I know as I have three Grand Uncles whoes names are inscribed on the gate. The gate was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield. It was inaugurated in 1927, ten years after the bloody third Battle of Ypres, part of the Passchendaele campaign. The Menin Gate marks the start of one of the main roads out of Ypres towards what used to be the front line, and tens of thousands of men passed through it on their way to the battlefield, many of them never to return. Almost as soon as the war was over, plans were made to build a memorial in the Ypres area. The British Government briefly considered purchasing the entire town and turning it into a life-size memorial, a plan which didn’t go down too well with the local citizens, who were eager to return to and rebuild their city. The Menin Gate was finally agreed upon. The memorial combines classical victory arches bearing huge panels on which are carved the names of the 54,896 men and women who died in the area, although the
