The Canadian
Memorial Garden in Caen occupies a wide strip of land running across the
western end of a valley, formed by a medieval quarry, which lies just to
the south of Le Mémorial.
Canadian Memorial Garden
The Canadian
Memorial Garden in Caen occupies a wide strip of land running across the
western end of a valley, formed by a medieval quarry, which lies just to
the south of Le Mémorial.
From Le Mémorial
visitors reach the Garden by walking a short distance along a road
lined with oak trees. After entering the garden, they pass the Canadian
flag flying from a mast and follow a path surrounded by cypresses to reach
the edge of a stone terrace dominating the valley below. Set into the
terrace on their right are four glass steles on which are recorded the
names of all the Canadian military units – sea, land and air – which
fought in the Battle of Normandy.
Looking across the
valley attention is drawn to a black slab set in a grove on the opposite
slope. To reach it they descend a flight of steps on their left, coming to
a path winding across the valley’s grassy floor. Looking back they see
that the terrace wall, which is composed of pale-coloured Caen stone, is
fissured by a vertical black granite claw, symbolizing war.
A little way up
the valley’s southern slope visitors arrive in the grove, composed of a
circle of red maple trees, to find in the middle the black granite slab
they had seen from the terrace opposite, in a
rectangular pool of running water. On it
they read Virgil’s words: NULLA DIES UMQUAM MEMORI VOS EXIMET AEVO
("Nothing shall ever blot you from the memory of time"). On a
low stone wall at the far side of the grove, are the names of all the 122
communes in Normandy which Canadian troops liberated in 1944.
The Canadian
Memorial Garden is a place where nature, eternally renewing itself, is
mingled with memories which should also prove eternal. It is a place to
remember the young men who fought in Normandy, both those who gave their
lives and those who survived. With its fissured terrace the garden’s
northern slope symbolizes their descent into the turmoil of war and
danger. The grove on the southern side, conceived for quiet contemplation,
symbolizes the peace they won for all of us.