Description
Book SynopsisIn 1919, after five years of brutal conflict, World War I ended. And while the living soldiers returned home, the dead stayed where they had fallen, in war graves throughout Europe. This book takes readers to many of the graveyards that serve as the final resting places of British soldiers who died during World War I. British cemeteries, we discover, are gardens, and many of them were designed by the greatest British architects of the time, such as Edwin Lutyens or Charles Holden, and their architectural quality is exceptional.
Gardens of War invites us to discover these unique places by approaching them in two ways. First, we see them as a project, building our understanding from archival documents and the testimonies of the actors involved in this vast undertaking, including politicians, diplomats, and, above all, architects. But we are also invited to discover them as visitors who travel along the roads that connect them, restoring our impressions through sketches, photos, and drawings, as closely as possible to the sensitive and emotional experience of actually being there.
Table of ContentsForeword
“WAR IT IS” – The Imperial War Graves Commission – Unlikely Places
THE VISITOR / 1
THE VISITOR’S NOTEBOOK / 1
CONQUERING THE TERRITORY
THE VISITOR’S NOTEBOOK / 2
PRESERVING THE TERRITORY – GHQ, DGRE, BEF – Repetition, Distinction, Invention – Models and Types / 1 / Models – Models and Types / 2 / Types – Memorials
THE VISITOR’S NOTEBOOK / 3
ACQUIRING THE LANDSCAPE – A Given Landscape – The Landscape Revealed
THE VISITOR’S NOTEBOOK / 4
THE VISITOR / 2
VISITOR’S MAP
Bibliography
Credits
