Cenotaph

A cenotaph is a tomb or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of persons whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάϕιον (kenos, one meaning being "empty", and taphos, "tomb"). Although the vast majority of cenotaphs are erected in honour of individuals, many of the best-known cenotaphs are instead dedicated to the memories of groups of individuals, such as the war dead of one country or empire.

Probably the best-known cenotaph in the modern world is the one that stands in Whitehall, London. It was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, who conceived the idea from the name of a structure in Gertrude Jekyll's garden[1], and constructed from Portland stone between 1919 and 1920 by Holland, Hannen & Cubitts. It replaced Lutyen's identical wood-and-plaster cenotaph erected in 1919 for the Allied Victory Parade commissioned by David Lloyd George, and is a Grade I listed building.[2] It is undecorated save for a carved wreath on each end and the words "The Glorious Dead", chosen by Rudyard Kipling.


A ceremony at the Cenotaph, London, on Sunday 12 June 2005, remembering Irish war dead.The sides of the Cenotaph are not parallel, but if extended would meet at a point some 900 feet above the ground. Similarly, the "horizontal" surfaces are in fact sections of a sphere whose centre is 900 feet below ground.[3] The joints of the masonry are all within one-fourteenth of an inch (1.8 millimetres).[4]

It is flanked on each side by various flags of the United Kingdom which Lutyens had wanted to be carved in stone. Although Lutyens was overruled and cloth flags were used, his later Rochdale cenotaph had stone flags. In the years following 1919, the Cenotaph displayed a Union Flag, a White Ensign, and a Red Ensign on one side and a Union Flag, a White Ensign, and a Blue Ensign on the other side. On 1 April 1943, an RAF Ensign was substituted for the White Ensign on the west side of the monument. The flags displayed as of 2007 represent the Royal Navy, the British Army, the Royal Air Force, and the Merchant Navy.

The Cenotaph is the site of the annual national service of remembrance held at 11 a.m. on Remembrance Sunday, the closest Sunday to the 11th November (Armistice Day).

Uniformed service personnel (excluding fire and ambulance personnel) always salute the Cenotaph as they pass. It was, for example, very noticeably the only salute made by the Royal Horse Artillery driver of Princess Diana's funeral carriage during that procession; on that occasion he did not salute even the Queen.

Probably the best-known cenotaph in the modern world is the one that stands in Whitehall, London. It was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, who conceived the idea from the name of a structure in Gertrude Jekyll's garden[1], and constructed from Portland stone between 1919 and 1920 by Holland, Hannen & Cubitts. It replaced Lutyen's identical wood-and-plaster cenotaph erected in 1919 for the Allied Victory Parade commissioned by David Lloyd George, and is a Grade I listed building.[2] It is undecorated save for a carved wreath on each end and the words "The Glorious Dead", chosen by Rudyard Kipling.


A ceremony at the Cenotaph, London, on Sunday 12 June 2005, remembering Irish war dead.The sides of the Cenotaph are not parallel, but if extended would meet at a point some 900 feet above the ground. Similarly, the "horizontal" surfaces are in fact sections of a sphere whose centre is 900 feet below ground.[3] The joints of the masonry are all within one-fourteenth of an inch (1.8 millimetres).[4]

It is flanked on each side by various flags of the United Kingdom which Lutyens had wanted to be carved in stone. Although Lutyens was overruled and cloth flags were used, his later Rochdale cenotaph had stone flags. In the years following 1919, the Cenotaph displayed a Union Flag, a White Ensign, and a Red Ensign on one side and a Union Flag, a White Ensign, and a Blue Ensign on the other side. On 1 April 1943, an RAF Ensign was substituted for the White Ensign on the west side of the monument. The flags displayed as of 2007 represent the Royal Navy, the British Army, the Royal Air Force, and the Merchant Navy.

The Cenotaph is the site of the annual national service of remembrance held at 11 a.m. on Remembrance Sunday, the closest Sunday to the 11th November (Armistice Day).

Uniformed service personnel (excluding fire and ambulance personnel) always salute the Cenotaph as they pass. It was, for example, very noticeably the only salute made by the Royal Horse Artillery driver of Princess Diana's funeral carriage during that procession; on that occasion he did not salute even the Queen.

Probably the best-known cenotaph in the modern world is the one that stands in Whitehall, London. It was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, who conceived the idea from the name of a structure in Gertrude Jekyll's garden[1], and constructed from Portland stone between 1919 and 1920 by Holland, Hannen & Cubitts. It replaced Lutyen's identical wood-and-plaster cenotaph erected in 1919 for the Allied Victory Parade commissioned by David Lloyd George, and is a Grade I listed building.[2] It is undecorated save for a carved wreath on each end and the words "The Glorious Dead", chosen by Rudyard Kipling.


A ceremony at the Cenotaph, London, on Sunday 12 June 2005, remembering Irish war dead.The sides of the Cenotaph are not parallel, but if extended would meet at a point some 900 feet above the ground. Similarly, the "horizontal" surfaces are in fact sections of a sphere whose centre is 900 feet below ground.[3] The joints of the masonry are all within one-fourteenth of an inch (1.8 millimetres).[4]

It is flanked on each side by various flags of the United Kingdom which Lutyens had wanted to be carved in stone. Although Lutyens was overruled and cloth flags were used, his later Rochdale cenotaph had stone flags. In the years following 1919, the Cenotaph displayed a Union Flag, a White Ensign, and a Red Ensign on one side and a Union Flag, a White Ensign, and a Blue Ensign on the other side. On 1 April 1943, an RAF Ensign was substituted for the White Ensign on the west side of the monument. The flags displayed as of 2007 represent the Royal Navy, the British Army, the Royal Air Force, and the Merchant Navy.

The Cenotaph is the site of the annual national service of remembrance held at 11 a.m. on Remembrance Sunday, the closest Sunday to the 11th November (Armistice Day).

Uniformed service personnel (excluding fire and ambulance personnel) always salute the Cenotaph as they pass. It was, for example, very noticeably the only salute made by the Royal Horse Artillery driver of Princess Diana's funeral carriage during that procession; on that occasion he did not salute even the Queen.

Probably the best-known cenotaph in the modern world is the one that stands in Whitehall, London. It was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, who conceived the idea from the name of a structure in Gertrude Jekyll's garden, and constructed from Portland stone between 1919 and 1920 by Holland, Hannen & Cubitts. It replaced Lutyen's identical wood-and-plaster cenotaph erected in 1919 for the Allied Victory Parade commissioned by David Lloyd George, and is a Grade I listed building. It is undecorated save for a carved wreath on each end and the words "The Glorious Dead", chosen by Rudyard Kipling.