War memorial on Île du Souvenir

The war memorial on Île du Souvenir is a war memorial dedicated to the victims of World War I, located on Île du Souvenir (or Île aux Cygnes) in the Parc de la Tête-d'Or in Lyon, France.

Architect Tony Garnier designed it and sculptors Jean-Baptiste Larrivé (cenotaph), Louis Bertola (bas-reliefs of Le Départ and La Guerre), and Claude Grange (bas-reliefs of La Paix and La Victoire) also contributed to the work.

History[edit]

The city of Lyon launched a competition for a new war memorial in December 1920. The result of the first round was the selection of ten projects, five of which were proposals by Tony Garnier. His project "Athéna", a huge temple with a double colonnade on the hill of La Croix-Rousse, won the competition in the second round. However, this project was abandoned because it was too expensive. The winner was the "Philae" project, the result of a collaboration with Jean-Baptiste Larrivé.^[1]

The ensemble has been the subject of several redesigns: an initial group of six columns, each with a statue at the top, was replaced in 1922 by two fluted shafts rising from the water, which were also abandoned. Similarly, the project called for a perimeter wall with a frieze topped by colonnettes with a garland of plants, and stairs at the rear of the cenotaph - overly ambitious features that were never built.^[1]

Tony Garnier worked with sculptors Jean-Baptiste Larrivé for the cenotaph and Louis Bertola and Claude Grange for the bas-reliefs. The island itself was created and landscaped between 1924 and 1930.^[2]

Description[edit]

The inspiration for this project was Arnold Böcklin's^[3] painting Isle of the Dead. It is composed of a central piece, a cenotaph, which represents six bearers of a tombstone, wrapped in a shroud. It is a tribute to the 10,600 Lyonnais who died fighting for France in World War I. After Jean-Baptiste Larrivé died, his brother Auguste Larrivé finished the work.

Four bas-reliefs were created by Louis Bertola (Le Départ and La Guerre) and Claude Grange (La Paix and La Victoire).^[4] The monument was built from blocks of stone taken from the quarries of Cruchaud (Buxy) and Goulot (Montagny-lès-Buxy).^[5]

Conservation[edit]

Listed as a historical monument since November 4, 1982,^[6] the building is part of the Parc de la Tête-d'Or pak complex, which, in addition to the war memorial, includes:

• The main gate with its columns (Porte des Enfants du Rhône, Place du Général-Leclerc).
• The Montgolfier Gate (Avenue Verguin).
• The Camellia and Pandanus greenhouses.

On March 10, 2003, the building was awarded the label "Heritage of the 20th Century".^[7] A plaque commemorating this label has been placed nearby since November 2004.

Renovation[edit]

In 2013, the monument was renovated and cleaned so that the 10,600 names inscribed on the cenotaph could be read (which was no longer possible).^[8][9] The island was closed for several years in a row, but after renovation, it was reopened to the public in early 2017.^[10]

Gallery[edit]

• 
  Île du souvenir at Parc de la tête d'or.
• 
  Cenotaph with the names of the 10,600 Lyonnais who died in the war.
• 
  Names and holders.
• 
  Island of the Dead, Arnold Böcklin, 1883, inspiration for the project.
• 
  Preliminary drawing by Tony Garnier held at the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon.
• 
  Preliminary drawing by Tony Garnier held at the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon.
• 
  Île aux Cygnes in the summer of 2022.
• 
  La Victoire de Claude Grange (cleaned up nicely in 2020).
• 
  La guerre (Louis Bertola) and the cenotaph (Jean-Baptiste Larrivé).

References[edit]

See also[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

• Dufieux, Philippe (2007). Sculpteurs et architectes à Lyon (1910-1960) : De Tony Garnier à Louis Bertola (in French). Lyon: Mémoire activee. ISBN 9782908185614.
• Guiheux, Alain; Cinqualbre, Olivier (1989). Tony Garnier : L'œuvre complète (in French). Centre Georges Pompidou. pp. 204–205. ISBN 9782858505272.