International Day of Monuments and Sites 2023

Each year, on 18 April, the International Council on Monuments and Sites celebrates the ‘International Day of Monuments and Sites’ to pay tribute to iconic buildings and monuments around the world.

As a worldwide organisation that takes care of war cemeteries and memorials at more than 23,000 locations across the globe, International Day of Monuments and Sites is the perfect opportunity for us to talk more about our work.

This year’s theme is Heritage Changes – assessing how traditional knowledge can be used to inform conservation and climate challenges – something we’ve been considering as we work to conserve our historic estate.

Like many organisations, we’re committed to conservation and environmental sustainability – and want to do our part for the environment while continuing to care for the 1.7 million Commonwealth casualties of the world wars.

Read our Conservation Policies Read our latest Sustainability Report

Find out more about some of our recent projects on some of our most iconic and beloved sites below.

The Ypres Menin Gate Memorial

We are currently undertaking an incredibly important project on one of our most well-known memorials.

Any talk about World War One and the Western Front will lead to the Menin Gate and the famous soundings of the Last Post at the memorial each evening.

Built in the 1920s, the memorial remains as popular today as it was 100 years ago. Like all our memorials, the Menin Gate is a living, breathing monument to the missing, visited each day by tourists and locals, exposed to the weather and to the pollution that comes with its position in a busy city.

Despite a lifetime of maintenance and care, it is time for the Menin Gate to undergo a full-scale restoration to conserve the memorial for future generations.

One of the most interesting features of the restoration is the installation of an eco-roof. The existing roof covering has reached its life expectancy and is being replaced to ensure that the memorial is fully waterproof.

The new ‘green roof’ will help to encourage biodiversity, providing a natural habitat for wildlife. Green infrastructure also contributes to reducing carbon emissions and creates a natural environment for better health and wellbeing.

Learn more about the Menin Gate Restoration project

Thiepval Memorial

Our largest memorial to the missing, Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, recently underwent a large restoration programme.

Like the Menin Gate, Thiepval is one of our most well-known and most visited sites. Its location, at the top of Thiepval Ridge on the Somme, leaves it vulnerable to the elements meaning the memorial has required constant maintenance since its unveiling in 1932.

Last year we completed the second phase of a restoration project begun in 2016 – a mammoth task that involved wrapping the memorial in scaffolding in order to work on the famous red brick that clads its walls, updating the complex drainage system within the memorial itself, relaying of paving and perhaps most pertinently, updating the Portland stone panels that bear the names of the 72,000 missing of the Somme that are commemorated there.

Tower Hill Memorial

In the heart of London, across from the Tower of London, sits the Commission’s own contribution to the city’s storied history. Tower Hill Memorial commemorates more than 36,000 merchant navy casualties from both world wars who have no known grave.

The memorial is a Grade 1 Listed Building, so when we needed to add more than 50 names to the World War One section of the memorial, it was a task that needed to be thoroughly considered and carefully carried out. We secured the necessary permissions and began carrying out the work, ensuring that we only replaced the essential sections and preserving as much of the original panel as possible.

Working with bronze panels is complex work, further complicated by the need to replace them in situ, as the original fixings mean that the panels can’t be removed from the memorial without causing severe damage. Our Drawing Office, Works and Records teams worked together to establish which sections needed replacing and designed the new bronze inserts that would be added to the memorial. These new panels were cast at a foundry in Liverpool and were taken to the memorial for installation.

To install the new sections, we contracted an external company who are experts in working on these kinds of heritage projects. The old sections were cut from the existing panels and the edges filed to a 45-degree angle. The edges of the new sections also had 45-degree edges to ensure a seamless fit, with a bronze powder and wax mix added to the joins to ensure a waterproof seal and account for any imperfections in the bronze. 

The installation process lasted about three months and now means that these missing servicemen of World War One have a permanent place of commemoration among their friends and comrades.

Another batch of names is due to be added to the Second World War section of the memorial later this year.

Durban Stellawood Cemetery

After heavy storms and inordinate levels of rainfall lead to landslides at Durban (Stellawood) Cemetery, our team in South Africa took the opportunity to make some important sustainability improvements to the site.

Initial work was needed to repair the damage – which had thankfully not disrupted any of the burials at the site – before improvements were made to help protect the site against further destruction. Retaining walls were added, embankments regraded, and the drainage system improved to help combat any extreme weather in the future.

At the same time, we reassessed the planting scheme at the cemetery, ensuring a large selection of indigenous plants and tree species suited for the climate in South Africa. Many of these plants are hardy and drought resistant that – combined with the installation of a borehole irrigation system – will reduce the Commission’s impact on the local water supply.

La Ferte-sous-Jouarre Memorial

The La Ferte-sous-Jouarre memorial, a stone’s throw from the Marne River in France, commemorates some of our earliest casualties of the First World War. This imposing yet ornate memorial has more to it than meets the eye.

Underneath the memorial are deep chambers and reinforcements that support the memorial above. Given the memorial’s proximity to the river, water and gravel had begun to erode these foundations, leaving the memorial at risk of serious damage.

Work was undertaken to install ventilation and drainage for these subterranean spaces, as well as restoring the memorial structure itself. In line with our conservation policy, we only replaced stone where it was essential, preferring to lean on our decades of experience to repair and restore what we could to best preserve this important memorial.

And more to come…

At the same time as we were undertaking these projects, our staff around the world continue to undertake important care and maintenance work at our sites guided by our own Conservation Policies.

But our work continues, and we are already planning and preparing for the next few years of projects.

On our to-do lists is the Agria Canadian War Cemetery in Italy which will undergo structural renovations and conservation work at Hebuterne Military Cemetery in France and Poperinge War Cemetery in Belgium.

These are just a few examples of the work we’ve done recently and the work still to come. Each of our sites are living, working memorials to the casualties of the world wars, and we will continue to take care of them over the next 100 years as we have for the last 100 years.