While the names of Vimy Ridge and Wellington Quarry in Arras are well known to the British, Americans, and Canadians, that of Notre-Dame de Lorette is less familiar. Located in northern France near Arras, it is the largest French military cemetery, with more than 40,000 soldiers, both known and unknown from France and its colonies buried here. It is unusual in that it contains a basilica and an extraordinary tower of lanterns.
Background
The three battles of Artois that took place in the fall of 1914, and the spring and fall of 1915, were conflicts between the French and German troops that had taken over the area. Between Vimy Ridge and Notre-Dame de Lorette, two high points on an otherwise flat plain, lie some of France’s great coal fields, vital to the war.
For the French, the second battle between May 9 and 15, when the French were trying to take the two hills of Artois, was a partial victory because they managed to capture Notre-Dame. But in human terms it was a disaster, with 102,000 French soldiers killed. For the French it was as bad as the Battle of Verdun.
Buildings of the French National War Cemetery
The cemetery, standing atop the windswept hill, is huge and unusual in that there are buildings here, as well as graves. Park at the entrance and come in and you come to them. In front of you on the right is the 52 meter high Lantern Tower. At night, its powerful beam sends light across the surrounding plain, visible from about 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) away. Marshal Petain laid the foundation on June 19, 1921 and it was finally finished in August 1925.
It is built on a huge base, which is in fact a crypt or ossuary with the remains of around 8,000 unknown soldiers from the two world wars and other French conflicts and from the concentration camps. Other ossuaries are scattered throughout the cemetery. In total, some 20,000 unknown soldiers are buried here.
It was the fact that people could not cry at the individual graves that led the Bishop of Arras to request that the French government build the basilica. In France, church and state are separate, and there are no religious monuments in other French military cemeteries. The church is elaborate inside with colorful mosaics and thousands of commemorative plaques. Six of the windows were donated by Great Britain as a gesture of appreciation for the land that France gave to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for British war cemeteries.
The basilica was designed by the architect Lille Louis-Marie Cordonnier and built between 1921 and 1927.
The tombs
Simple crosses spread out before you with military precision. In the easternmost corner there is a large collection of Muslim graves, soldiers from the French colonies, predominantly from North Africa, with gravestones of a different shape.
40,000 French troops are buried here. Each received a similar grave, without distinction between general and private. The wording is less detailed than on British war graves, where the regiment’s insignia is etched along with the dates of birth and death, and often a few words. Every now and then there are double graves; perhaps one of the saddest is a double grave for those of Sars, father and son, murdered in 1914 and 1940.
The Musee Vivante 1914-1918
The Living Museum of the Great War displays photographs, uniforms and helmets, as well as fascinating reconstructions of underground shelters. In addition, one room has 16 dioramas showing different aspects of life in war, from the hospitals to the front line. Finally there is a battlefield recreated from the German and French trenches.
Living museum
Tel.: 00 33 (0) 3 21 45 15 80
Entrance 4 euros; 2 euros for concessions
Every day from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm
Closed on January 1 and December 25
Information of the French national cemetery
Chemin du Mont de Lorette
Ablain-Saint-Nazaire
Open March 8 am to 5 pm; April, May 8 am-6pm; June-September 8 am-7pm; October 8:30 am-5m; Nov-Feb 9 am-5:30pm
Directions The cemetery is between Arras to the south and Lens to the northeast. It is signposted on the N937.
More WWI memorials in the region
There are infinite military cemeteries large and small, their graves in a precise military style. There are also French, German, American, Canadian and Polish cemeteries here.
- The Great War Museum of World War I
- American WWI Memorials
- Canadian Memorial at Vimy Ridge
- Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery
- French National War Cemetery at Notre-Dame-de-Lorette
- The World War I German Rest Camp Moreau in Champagne
