The Vimy Ridge Canadian memorial is located just North of Arras in France and is Canada’s largest overseas memorial.
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This past October on my last trip to France, I had the honour of visiting Vimy Ridge Canadian Memorial. To be honest, I never knew about Vimy before, which I’m a little ashamed to say after visiting.
I haven’t always been the biggest on learning history, I was never really interested in it that much. I love seeing beautiful places and old buildings but all the history stuff itself just never really got my juices flowing.
I think maybe now that I’m older and continue to travel to places that have so much history and culture, I find myself wanting to know more about the history and how it all came to be.
It’s a little weird to me actually, is this what happens as you age? Haha. If so, I think I’m okay with it. I won’t go as far to say I’ll spend hours in a museum though, I think I may have reached my limit there.
However, I’m finding that learning the history of places can really help you to understand it’s importance and value instead of just seeing it as something pretty.
In this post
Discovering Vimy Ridge Canadian Memorial
The Monument
Located in Northern France, just north of Arras, sits Vimy Ridge memorial. A Canadian war memorial dedicated to the memory of Canadian Soldiers who died in the First World War. It is a place made to commemorate the Canadian Soldiers who were killed or presumed dead in France who have no known grave.
As I said before, I never knew about the existence of Vimy Ridge. My boyfriend actually told me about it and said we could visit if I wanted. I wasn’t all gung ho about it but I am always down to discover new places and things so on a slightly gloomy day, we set off on the 30 minute drive to visit the monument.
You can see the landmark from afar rising high up into the air. As we neared the site and the monument came into clear focus, I was in slight awe over the tall beautiful structure.
When we stepped out of the car, and I was slightly distracted from the beautiful structure because of the smell hanging in the air. It was strong and reminded me of being on a farm.
Once I got past the smell ( which I never really fully did till we left) I focused once again on the beautiful rolling hills surrounding the white structure, I wondered how I hadn’t know about this place before.
These little Canadian flags with writing on them were really nice and added a sentimental touch.
I really felt a sense of Canadian Pride seeing them.
Then standing at the base of the monument, I was amazed at the grandeur and beauty of it all with a little sorrow seeping in looking at the sculptures and the sadness they represent.
Mother Canada
The largest figure, known as Canada Bereft, or as Mother Canada, as some like to call her, was built out of one single 30-tonne block.
She represents Canada and the nation that grieves their dead. She keeps her head bowed in sorrow, mourning for the thousands of soldiers who never came home.
Looking at her, I could feel her sadness and ,crazy as it sounds, my heart actually felt heavy taking it in.
Beautiful Views
The Memorial sits on Hill 145, which was where some of the fiercest battle took place.
Looking out from the memorial, as you can see, the view is absolutely beautiful. The landscaping is just gorgeous.
These little hills make a very big visual impact.
The land around the memorial is absolutely beautiful and still bare the scars of the battle that took place long ago. The majority of the site is barred off due to the fact that there are still undetonated bombs lurking below the surfaces. You can see the dips and rivets all along the uneven ground.
Fun fact:
Sheep are sometimes used to maintain large areas of the battlefield terrain surrounding the memorial. Their gentle grazing minimizes the impact on the grounds while keeping the grass short enough for visitors to view.
Photographing Cemeteries
Now I don’t know what is acceptable or what is “good etiquette” when it comes to photographing cemeteries. It’s not something I do or even think to do but when we visited one of the lots around the corner from the huge monument, I saw how beautiful it was and immediately found myself reaching for my camera.
Beautiful landscape
As you can see the lot is beautifully designed and maintained extremely well.
I was a little sad and heavy hearted as I looked over at all the beautiful flowers and white tombstones lined up and thought about all the soldiers who gave their lives for their country.
The idea of war itself still mind boggles me, one country wanting to reign supreme over another, I don’t get it. But then again I was never really into politics and the ways it affects the world. I just cant wrap my head around it.
I felt extremely honoured visiting Vimy and being able to capture a piece of history I never even really knew existed before. I am happy that I got to experience it and learn a little more Canadian history that I never knew before.
You can click here to learn a little more about Vimy Ridge Memorial.
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To the valour of their countrymen in the great war and in the memory of their sixty thousand dead this monument is raised by the people of Canada
– Inscription on monument
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