Mémorial de Sainte-Anne-d'Auray, War memorial in Sainte-Anne-d'Auray, France
The Mémorial de Sainte-Anne-d'Auray is a 52-metre-high granite monument designed by architect René Ménard. Its stepped base has a recessed doorway flanked by two granite bas-reliefs by Jules-Charles Le Bozec, showing the protective arms of Victory and Peace. Above, eight arches support a dome crowned by a perforated cross, and the dome shelters a monolithic altar of pink granite from Ploumanac'h.
The five dioceses of Brittany commissioned the memorial in 1922 to honour the 240,000 Bretons killed in World War I; it was designed by Nantes architect René Ménard and completed in 1932. Its blessing that year drew about 150,000 people and was performed by Apostolic Nuncio Mgr Maglione. Only 8,000 names of the dead are engraved on the horseshoe wall, and the monument was inscribed as a monument historique in 2016.
The crypt holds five chapels dedicated to Brittany's dioceses, each with statues of Saint Michael and Saint Yves nearby. This layout shows how the place brings together religious devotion and remembrance of the fallen.
The memorial stands in Sainte-Anne-d'Auray, reached on foot from the basilica. The entrance door, set between the two granite reliefs, opens onto the domed chamber with its pink granite altar; the funerary crypt below is divided into five apsidal chapels. The surrounding horseshoe wall carries the marble name plaques along a Stations of the Cross path, so allow time to walk its length.
The altar inside is crafted from pink granite quarried at Ploumanac'h, a material chosen for its regional meaning. Two stone reliefs by sculptor Jules-Charles Le Bozec frame the entrance and show the skilled craftsmanship of the period.
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