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Shrine of Remembrance

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Architecture

    A view of the northern face of the Shrine showing many visitors paying
    their respects. The annual ANZAC Day parade approaches the Shrine from
        the north. This view shows the sculptures in the pediment, clearly
    inspired by those of the Parthenon. The central figure is the "Call to
                                                                   Arms.".
                                                                   Enlarge
    A view of the northern face of the Shrine showing many visitors paying
    their respects. The annual ANZAC Day parade approaches the Shrine from
        the north. This view shows the sculptures in the pediment, clearly
    inspired by those of the Parthenon. The central figure is the "Call to
                                                                   Arms.".

                                                         Inside the Shrine
                                                                   Enlarge
                                                         Inside the Shrine

       The Shrine in the 1930s showing the reflecting pool in front of the
                       north face, where the World War II Forecourt now is
                                                                   Enlarge
       The Shrine in the 1930s showing the reflecting pool in front of the
                       north face, where the World War II Forecourt now is

                                                         Ceremonial Avenue
                                                                   Enlarge
                                                         Ceremonial Avenue

          One of the four groups of statuary which mark the corners of the
       Shrine. Greek and Assyrian influences can be seen, but no Christian
             motifs. The four statuary groups representing Peace, Justice,
          Patriotism and Sacrifice were created by sculptor Paul Montford.
                                                                   Enlarge
          One of the four groups of statuary which mark the corners of the
       Shrine. Greek and Assyrian influences can be seen, but no Christian
             motifs. The four statuary groups representing Peace, Justice,
          Patriotism and Sacrifice were created by sculptor Paul Montford.

                                                       West face of Shrine
                                                                   Enlarge
                                                       West face of Shrine

   The Shrine of Remembrance, located in St Kilda Road, Melbourne, is one
   of the largest war memorials in Australia. It was built as a memorial
   to the men and women of Victoria who served in World War I, but soon
   came to be seen as Australia's major memorial to all the 60,000
   Australians who died in the war. It now serves as a memorial for all
   Australians who served in war and it is the site of annual observances
   of ANZAC Day ( 25 April) and Remembrance Day ( 11 November).

History

   Proposals for a war memorial in Melbourne were put forward as soon as
   the war ended in November 1918. In 1920 the Victorian state government
   appointed an advisory committee, which recommended an "arch of victory"
   over St Kilda Rd, the major boulevard leading out of the city of
   Melbourne to the south, and one of the city's busiest thoroughfares. In
   August 1921 an executive committee was formed, with the former
   commander of the Australian forces in the war, General Sir John Monash,
   as its driving force. The committee soon abandoned the idea of an arch
   and proposed a large monumental memorial to the east of St Kilda Road,
   a position which would make it clearly visible from the centre of the
   city. A competition was held for a design, which was won by two
   Melbourne architects (and war veterans), Phillip Hudson and James
   Wardrop.

   The design of the proposed Shrine was based on the ancient Tomb of
   Mausolus (the Mausoleum) at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of
   the World. It featured a massive pyramid-shaped structure, with
   classical porticos at the head of wide flights of steps on the northern
   and southern sides. The chosen building stone was granodiorite quarried
   from Tynong. This design was fiercely criticised in the press,
   especially by Keith Murdoch's Herald, on the grounds of its
   grandiosity, its severity of design and its expense. Murdoch called the
   Shrine "a tomb of gloom." Some Christian churches also attacked the
   design as pagan for having no cross or other Christian element. Monash,
   who was Jewish, was blamed in some quarters for this, although in fact
   he had not promoted the Hudson-Wardrop design.

   In the face of this criticism, the Victorian government abandoned the
   project in 1926, and proposed instead to build a cenotaph in a large
   "ANZAC Square" at the top of Bourke St in front of Parliament House.
   This, however, would have involved demolishing the Windsor Hotel, one
   of Melbourne's oldest and grandest. Monash then struck back, turning
   the 1927 ANZAC Day march, in which he led 30,000 veterans through the
   streets of Melbourne, into a demonstration in favour of the St Kilda Rd
   Shrine, gaining the support of the influential Age and Argus newspapers
   and the powerful Returned and Services League. Faced with this support,
   the state government changed its mind again.

   The foundation stone was laid on 11 November 1927, by the Governor of
   Victoria, Lord Somers. Although both the Victorian and Commonwealth
   governments made contributions, most of the cost of the Shrine was
   raised by public contributions, with Monash as chief fundraiser.

   Monash, who had been a civil engineer before 1914, took personal charge
   of the construction, which began in July 1928. He opposed suggestions
   that an " unknown soldier" should be buried at the Shrine, on the
   grounds that this should be done at a national war memorial in the new
   Australian capital, Canberra. He also rejected suggestions for statues
   of individual war leaders, including himself. Monash composed the
   inscription which appears on the western wall of the Shrine:

          LET ALL MEN KNOW THAT THIS IS HOLY GROUND. THIS SHRINE,
          ESTABLISHED IN THE HEARTS OF MEN AS ON THE SOLID EARTH,
          COMMEMORATES A PEOPLE'S FORTITUDE AND SACRIFICE. YE THEREFORE
          THAT COME AFTER, GIVE REMEMBRANCE.

   This inscription again aroused criticism for having no Christian
   element, or religious element at all. In fact it was modelled closely
   on the memorial inscriptions of Ancient Greece, and reflected Monash's
   classical education rather than his Judaism. Monash died in 1931 before
   the Shrine was finished, but its completion was a tribute to his
   determination. There is a large equestrian statue of Monash in the
   parklands which surround the Shrine, although there are no memorials to
   individuals at the Shrine itself.

   The inscription on the eastern wall, not written by Monash, reads:

          THIS MONUMENT WAS ERECTED BY A GRATEFUL PEOPLE TO THE HONOURED
          MEMORY OF THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO SERVED THE EMPIRE IN THE GREAT
          WAR OF 1914-1918.

   The onset of the Great Depression at the end of 1929 slowed
   construction work on the Shrine. But from 1930 onwards the Depression
   actually assisted the Shrine's progress, because large numbers of
   unemployed men were hired at sustenance wages to work on the project as
   a form of unemployment relief. Many of these were war veterans who
   welcomed the chance to help finish the Shrine. Work was finally
   completed in September 1934, and the Shrine was formally dedicated on
   11 November 1934 by the Duke of Gloucester, witnessed by a crowd of
   300,000, believed to be the largest ever in Melbourne.

   After World War II it was felt necessary to add to the Shrine an
   element commemorating the Australian war dead of the second great
   conflict. The result was the World War II Forecourt, a wide expanse of
   stone in front of the Shrine's north face; the Eternal Flame, a
   permanent gas flame set just to the west of the north face; and the
   World War II Memorial, a 12.5 m high cenotaph a little further west.
   The Forecourt replaced a reflecting pool that had been emptied during
   World War II and was not subsequently refilled. These enlargements were
   dedicated by Queen Elizabeth II on 28 February 1954. Australia's
   involvements in later wars, such as the Korean War, the Malayan
   Emergency, the Vietnam War and the Gulf War, are commemorated by
   inscriptions.

   In 1951 the body of Field Marshal Sir Thomas Blamey, Australia's
   military commander during World War II, was held at the Shrine for
   three days for public viewing followed by a State funeral on site. This
   was the only time that the building has been used other than as war
   memorial.

   During the Vietnam War the Shrine became a centre of conflict when
   anti-war demonstrators protested during ANZAC Day services against
   Australia's involvement in the war. In 1971 the Shrine was defaced when
   the word PEACE was painted in large white letters on the pillars of the
   north portico. Despite vigorous cleaning, the porous nature of the
   stone used in the Shrine's construction meant that the slogan remained
   faintly visible for over 20 years.

   In 1985 the Remembrance Garden was added beneath the western face of
   the Shrine to honour those who served during post-WWII conflicts. The
   garden features a pool, waterfall and granite wall bearing the names of
   the conflicts in which Australia participated, such as Kuwait ( Gulf
   War) and East Timor.

The Shrine today

   For the past 70 years the Shrine has been the centre of war
   commemoration in Melbourne. Although Remembrance Day ( 11 November) is
   the official day for commemorating the war dead, it has gradually been
   eclipsed in the public estimation by ANZAC Day ( 25 April), which
   unlike Remembrance Day is a specifically Australian (and New Zealand)
   day of commemoration. Every ANZAC Day the Shrine is the site of a dawn
   service which draws large crowds, and the ANZAC Day march of veterans
   later in the day concludes in the Shrine's forecourt.

   Inside the Shrine is the Sanctuary, which contains the Stone of
   Remembrance. This is a marble stone sunk below the pavement, where
   visitors must bow their heads to read the inscription:

          GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN

   The Stone is aligned with an aperture in the roof of the Sanctuary so
   that a ray of sunlight falls on the word LOVE on the Stone of
   Remembrance at exactly 11am on 11 November, marking the hour and day of
   the Armistice which ended World War I. Unfortunately the introduction
   of daylight saving in Victoria meant that the ray of sunlight was no
   longer in the right place at 11am. A mirror has now been installed in
   the roof to direct sunlight onto the Stone at 11am. During the rest of
   the year, a light is used to simulate the effect.

   Around the Sanctuary walls is a frieze of 12 carved panels (by sculptor
   Pietro Porcelli) depicting the armed services at work and in action
   during World War I. The Sanctuary is surrounded by a narrow walkway
   called the Ambulatory. Along the Ambulatory are 42 bronze caskets
   containing hand-written, illuminated Books of Remembrance with the
   names of every Victorian who enlisted for active service with the
   Australian Imperial Force (AIF) or Australian Naval and Military
   Expeditionary Force in World War I or died in camp prior to
   embarkation. These books are opened to a different page every day.

   Beneath the Sanctuary is the Crypt containing a statue of a father and
   son, representing the two generations who went to war together. Around
   the walls are panels listing every unit of the AIF, down to battalion
   and regiment, along with the colours of their shoulder patch. The Crypt
   is hung with the standards of various battalions and regiments, listing
   their battle honours.

   The Shrine is set in a large expanse of parkland officially called
   Kings Domain. Over the years many other war memorials have been built
   in this area, including the Australian-Hellenic Memorial to Australian
   and Greek dead in the Battles of Greece and Crete in 1941, and statues
   of Monash and Blamey. Most of the trees which line the approaches to
   the Shrine bear plaques commemorating individual Army units, naval
   vessels or Air Force squadrons, placed there by veterans' groups. An
   older memorial to Victorians killed in the Second Boer War of 1899-
   1902 is also nearby.

   At the northeast corner of the Shrine is the Gallipoli Memorial, a
   small statue of "The Man with the Donkey". Officially the statue
   represents the "valour and compassion of the Australian soldier" but it
   is modelled on Private John Simpson Kirkpatrick and the dates on the
   memorial, April 25 to May 19, represent the period in which Simpson
   survived at Gallipoli. Nearby is a Turkish Pine grown from a seed of
   the original Lone Pine at Gallipoli.

   By the 1990s the increasing number of visitors to the Shrine led to the
   construction of a new Visitor Centre and museum inside the Shrine,
   designed by Melbourne architects Ashton Raggatt McDougall, which was
   opened in August 2003. The Centre incorporates an auditorium,
   administration facilities and public conveniences. It offers improved
   facilities for visitors, including the many school parties which visit
   the Shrine every day, provides improved access for the elderly and the
   disabled, and means that the external steps and northern doors need
   only be used for ceremonial purposes. Access from the Visitor Centre
   now leads directly into the Crypt up a short flight of stairs. On
   display in the Visitor Centre is the Victoria Cross won by Captain
   Robert Grieve during the Battle of Messines, 1917.

   As memories of the specific battles of World War I (apart from
   Gallipoli) have faded in Australia, few people remain aware of the
   "battle honours" disks, 16 stone discs set in the Shrine's balustrade.
   These discs are the battle honours granted by King George V and
   commemorate Australia's contributions to the following battles: Landing
   at Anzac, (that is, Gallipoli), Sari Bair, Rumani, Gaza-Beersheba, the
   North Sea, the Cocos Islands, Megiddo, Damascus, Villers Bretonneux,
   Amiens, Mont St Quentin, the Hindenburg Line, Ypres, Messines, Pozieres
   and Bullecourt.

   The Shrine is managed by a Board of Trustees, appointed by the
   Victorian Government. The board is responsible for the care,
   management, maintenance and preservation of the building and
   development of the Shrine. The Shrine's security has been considerably
   improved in recent years. A group of Victoria Police guards keep watch
   over the Shrine at all times. During the hours the Shrine is open to
   the public or in use for any ceremony, they wear a uniform representing
   an Australian Light Horseman of World War I with Victoria Police Force
   insignia.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrine_of_Remembrance"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
