The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars. The commission is also responsible for commemorating Commonwealth civilians who died as a result of enemy action during the Second World War. The commission was founded by Sir Fabian Ware and constituted through Royal Charter in 1917 as the Imperial War Graves Commission. The change to the present name took place in 1960.
The Menin Gate, officially the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, is a war memorial in Ypres, Belgium, dedicated to the British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the Ypres Salient of World War I and whose graves are unknown. The memorial is located at the eastern exit of the town and marks the starting point for one of the main roads that led Allied soldiers to the front line.
A quadriga is a car or chariot drawn by four horses abreast and favoured for chariot racing in Classical Antiquity and the Roman Empire. The word derives from the Latin quadrigae, a contraction of quadriiugae, from quadri-: four, and iugum: yoke. In Latin the word quadrigae is almost always used in the plural and usually refers to the team of four horses rather than the chariot they pull. In Greek, a four-horse chariot was known as τέθριππον téthrippon.
A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road, and usually standing alone, unconnected to other buildings. In its simplest form, a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, typically crowned with a flat entablature or attic on which a statue might be mounted or which bears commemorative inscriptions. The main structure is often decorated with carvings, sculpted reliefs, and dedications. More elaborate triumphal arches may have multiple archways, or in a tetrapylon, passages leading in four directions.
A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war.
An eternal flame is a flame, lamp or torch that burns for an indefinite time. Most eternal flames are ignited and tended intentionally, but some are natural phenomena caused by natural gas leaks, peat fires and coal seam fires, all of which can be initially ignited by lightning, piezoelectricity or human activity, some of which have burned for hundreds or thousands of years.
The India Gate is a war memorial located near the Kartavya path on the eastern edge of the "ceremonial axis" of New Delhi, formerly called Rajpath. It stands as a memorial to 74,187 soldiers of the Indian Army who died between 1914 and 1921 in the First World War, in France, Flanders, Mesopotamia, Persia, East Africa, Gallipoli and elsewhere in the Near and the Far East, and the Third Anglo-Afghan War. 13,300 servicemen's names, including some soldiers and officers from the United Kingdom, are inscribed on the gate. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the gate evokes the architectural style of the ancient Roman triumphal arches such as the Arch of Constantine in Rome, and later memorial arches; it is often compared to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and the Gateway of India in Mumbai.
The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is a war memorial to 72,337 missing British and South African servicemen who died in the Battles of the Somme of the First World War between 1915 and 1918, with no known grave. It is near the village of Thiepval, Picardy in France. A visitors' centre opened in 2004. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, Thiepval has been described as "the greatest executed British work of monumental architecture of the twentieth century".
Paghman is a town in the hills near Afghanistan's capital of Kabul. It is the seat of the Paghman District which has a population of about 120,000, mainly Pashtuns and Tajiks. The gardens of Paghman are a major tourist attraction, and why the city is also known as the garden capital of Afghanistan.
Afghan Independence Day is celebrated as a national holiday in Afghanistan on 19 August to commemorate the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919 and relinquishment from British Protected state status. The treaty granted a complete neutral relation between Afghanistan and Britain. Afghanistan had become a British protectorate after the Treaty of Gandamak was signed (1879) in the Second Anglo-Afghan War.
Buland Darwaza, or the "Door of Victory", was built in 1575 by Mughal emperor Akbar to commemorate his victory over Gujarat. It is the main entrance to the Jama Masjid at Fatehpur Sikri, which is 43 km from Agra, India.
The Arc de Triomf is a memorial arch in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was built by architect Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas as the main access gate for the 1888 Barcelona World Fair. The arch crosses over the wide central promenade of the Passeig de Lluís Companys, leading to the Ciutadella Park that now occupies the site of the world fair. It is located at the northern end of the promenade, facing the Passeig de Sant Joan.
The Confederate Memorial includes a 6-foot-tall (1.8 m) Confederate soldier statue atop an arch anchored in the Fulton, Kentucky Fairview Cemetery. Funded in 1902 by the Colonel Ed Crossland Chapter No. 347 of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the historic monument is the only such monument in Kentucky to feature an arched base, made of rough-hewn limestone.
The Confederate Memorial Gateway in Hickman, Kentucky is a historic cemetery gateway in Fulton County, Kentucky. It was funded in 1913 by the Private Robert Tyler Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.
Hurlbut Memorial Gate is a monumental structure, 132 ft (40 m) long, 50 ft (15 m) high, and 40 ft (12 m) in depth, at the entry way to Water Works Park located at East Jefferson Avenue and Cadillac Boulevard in a historic area of Detroit, Michigan. It is named after Chauncey Hurlbut, a 19th-century Detroit grocer, president of the Board of Water Commissioners, and philanthropist. The gate was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1974 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The monument was built in 1894 and fully restored in 2007.
The Kargil War Memorial, also known as Dras War Memorial, is a war memorial built by the Indian Army in the town of Dras, near Kargil city in Kargil district of Ladakh, India, commemorating the 1999 Kargil War between India and Pakistan. The memorial is located on the Srinagar-Leh National Highway 1D, about 5 km from the city centre across the Tiger Hill, Kargil.
The Arch of Remembrance is a First World War memorial designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and located in Victoria Park, Leicester, in the East Midlands of England. Leicester's industry contributed significantly to the British war effort. A temporary war memorial was erected in 1917, and a committee was formed in 1919 to propose a permanent memorial. The committee resolved to appoint Lutyens as architect and to site the memorial in Victoria Park. Lutyens's first proposal was accepted by the committee but was scaled back and eventually cancelled due to a shortage of funds. The committee then asked Lutyens to design a memorial arch, which he presented to a public meeting in 1923.
The Taq-e Zafar is a memorial arch located at the front of the gardens in Paghman, Afghanistan. The famous victory arch commemorates Afghan independence after the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919.
Al-Abtal Gate, or Riyadh al-Gharbia Gate, is a pair of arch-gateway monuments situated on the either side of Highway 40 at the Qiddiya civilian checkpoint in southwestern Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, officially partitioned between King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy from the north and Nemar suburb from the south. Opened in 2013 and modelled after the Masmak Fortress, it commemorates the 1902 Battle of Riyadh and is a local visitor attraction besides being a stopover for travellers passing through the city’s western exit.
