National Memorial of Canada

Vimy

The space occupied by the Canadian National Vimy Memorial was given by France to Canada in gratitude for the human sacrifice of this young nation. It is located on Hill 145, the highest point of the 14-kilometre long Vimy Ridge. On April 9, 1917, the four divisions of the Canadian Corps, fighting together for the first time and assisted by the British 5th Division, stormed the ridge. The 107-hectare park is still dotted with shell holes. The trenches and underground tunnels give an idea of the battlefields. The Canadian Memorial is a tribute to all Canadians who fought in the First World War. The names of 11,285 Canadian soldiers who died on French soil and have no known grave are inscribed on the monument.

Getting there

Symbol of a union across the Atlantic...

Erected at the highest point of the ridge, where Canadian troops won the Battle of Vimy Ridge in April 1917, the two white towers of the memorial dominate the plain of Lens. 27 meters high and built with 6,000 tons of stone, they are the work of Canadian architect and sculptor Walter Seymour Allward. They symbolize the union across the ocean of Canada represented by the maple leaf and France with the fleur-de-lis.

Vimy Park, Trenches and Canadian Memorial

"Modern Canada was born in the trenches of Vimy Ridge".

It took eleven years to build and sculpt the twenty or so statues that adorn it. The difficulties encountered were enormous because of the ground that had been shaken by four years of fighting. 15,000 tons of reinforced concrete had to be poured for the foundations. The most famous of the statues, carved from a 30-ton block of stone, depicts a grieving woman – the young Canadian nation – mourning her dead. On the wall surrounding the monument are engraved the names of the 11,285 soldiers killed in France during the First World War whose bodies have never been found. In their honor, as many Canada pines have been planted in the park near the monument.

A major part

of Canadian history

In total, more than 60,000 Canadians lost their lives during the Great War and the Vimy Ridge National Historic Site of Canada (the official name of this “Memorial”) is dedicated to their memory. It covers 107 hectares, most of which have been reforested. Some of the underground passages and trenches have been preserved to better understand the bitter struggles that allowed the Canadian divisions to take the ridge on April 10, 1917, and to clear Arras, which had remained under German fire until then. This victory – one of the few on this front before 1918 – remains a major page in the history of the Canadian nation.

Visit the Canadian National Vimy Memorial