Monuments and memorials

The memorial to the women of World War Two stands close to the Cenotaph and was unveiled on 9th July 2005 by Her Majesty the Queen

Hundreds of monuments, statues and other memorials stand in the towns and cities of Britain and even across areas of the open countryside as well. Most major towns and cities have a war memorial of some sort which honours the dead of the world wars. Many of these were established after the First World War and in some cases were then added to after 1945.

The vast number of these memorials give us an understanding of the way that, as a people, we have chosen to commemorate those who have fallen in war. They also help us to see how the way we choose to commemorate has changed over the years. Traditionally memorials have been very grand and quite militaristic in nature with many of them consisting of a plinth or pedestal with quite lifelike statues of servicemen  and an area where an inscription could be placed. In many areas memorials also include the names of the servicemen from the local area who died in the service of the country.
However in more recent times some of these memorials have become a little more abstract and have used imagery to help focus our thoughts with regard to remembrance. The image above shows the national monument to the women of world war two which was erected in 2005. rather than using realistic of figures of women at war it utikises a simple image of various women's uniforms hanging from coat pegs.
In a similar way the New Zealand memorial dedicated to the servicemen from that country who died in World War Two  is called 'The Southern Stand' and is made up of 16 large bronze 'standards', of different sizes weighing up to 700kg each and some 4.5 metres long, set in the ground at an angle and all facing south. Some have been set in the path going round that part of the area, some in a grassy bank, six of which make up the shape of the Southern Cross.