Belfast Cenotaph: Difference between revisions

▲The '''Belfast Cenotaph''' is a [[war memorial]] in [[Belfast]], in [[Donegall Square]] West, to the west of [[Belfast City Hall]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/remembrance/remembrance-events/fields-of-remembrance/belfast/|title=Belfast Field Of Remembrance|last=|first=|date=|website=Royal British Legion|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=2 April 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.irishwarmemorials.ie/Memorials-Detail?memoId=822|title=Belfast War Memorial|last=|first=|date=|website=Irish War Memorials|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=2 April 2018}}</ref> Like the City Hall, it was designed by Sir [[Alfred Brumwell Thomas]]. It was unveiled in 1929. It became a Grade A [[listed building]] in 1984.<ref>[https://apps.communities-ni.gov.uk/Buildings/buildview.aspx?id=17018 Belfast Cenotaph], Buildings Database, Northern Ireland Department of Communities</ref>

▲The memorial includes a central [[Portland stone]] monument about {{convert|30|ft|m}}, with bronze brackets on either side supporting flagpoles. The top of the monument has carved [[laurel wreath]]s, symbolising victory and honour.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/141774/|title=Belfast City Hall – Cenotaph|last=|first=|date=|website=War Memorials Online|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=2 April 2018}}</ref> It bears several inscriptions: on the north side: "PRO DEO / ET / PATRIA // ERECTED BY / THE CITY / OF / BELFAST / IN MEMORY OF / HER / HEROIC SONS / WHO MADE / THE SUPREME / SACRIFICE / IN / THE GREAT WAR / 1914–1918 // THROUGHOUT THE LONG YEARS OF STRUGGLE WHICH / HAVE NOW SO GLORIOUSLY ENDED THE MEN OF ULSTER / HAVE PROVED HOW NOBLY THEY FIGHT AND DIE / GEORGE R.I." and on the south face: "THEY DEDICATED THEIR LIVES TO A GREAT CAUSE AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS BY LAND, SEA AND AIR WON UNDYING FAME".<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ulsterwarmemorials.net/html/belfast_city.html|title=Belfast City|last=|first=|date=|website=ulsterwarmemorials.net|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=2 April 2018}}</ref><ref name="iwm">[https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/6602 Belfast Cenotaph], Imperial War Museum</ref>

▲The monument stands on three steps. To the south is an arc of paired [[Corinthian order|Corinthian]] columns forming a {{convert|25|ft|m}} high [[colonnade]].<ref name=":0" /> To the north is a sunken garden of remembrance, which since 2011 has been the location for an annual [[Field of Remembrance]]. The paving of the garden was renewed in 1993.

▲The memorial was completed in 1927 and officially unveiled by [[Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby|Viscount Allenby]] on 11 November 1929.<ref name="iwm" /> No Catholic organisations participated in the formal unveiling ceremony, but veterans from the [[16th (Irish) Division]] laid a wreath after the ceremony ended, and participated the following year.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Belfast Boys: How Unionists and Nationalists Fought and Died Together in the First World War|last=Grayson|first=Richard S.|publisher=A&C Black|year=2010|isbn=1-4411-0519-0|location=|pages=168–169, 171, 181}}</ref>

▲In addition to the usual [[Remembrance Sunday]] services, there are also annual ceremonies to remember the [[First day on the Somme|first day of the Battle of the Somme]] on 1 July.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Remembering the First World War|last=Ziino|first=Bart|publisher=Routledge|year=2014|isbn=1-317-57371-4|location=|pages=173}}</ref> Controversially, the first [[Sinn Féin]] [[Lord Mayor of Belfast]] [[Alex Maskey]] laid a wreath on 1 July 2002.<ref name=":1" />

▲Nearby are memorials the service of Irish regiments in the [[Boer War]] and the [[Korean War]] memorial, and to US forces who arrived in Northern Ireland in 1942.<ref name=":2" />

▲*[[List of public art in Belfast]]