"The Anzac Memorial was created by the people of New South Wales as a place to remember the impact of the Great War (1914-1918). It was built as a memorial to the Australian Imperial Force of World War I. Although the Memorial did not open until 1934, the need for the Memorial was recognized as soon as the casualty figures from the 1915 Gallipoli campaign became public knowledge. Planning for a Memorial of some kind began with the establishment of a fund on the first anniversary of the landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) landing at Anzac Cove for the Battle of Gallipoli in 1916. It was opened on November 24, 1934 by His Royal Highness Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester.
"The Anzac Memorial is at once both a work of art and a remarkable piece of architecture. The artist was George Rayner Hoff, an English sculptor who had migrated to Sydney in the 1920s. Rayner Hoff had served in the Royal Engineers as a map maker in France during the Great War and in Germany wit the army of occupation. His collaboration with the Australian architect Charles Bruce Dellit on the Anzac Memorial is seamless."
The memorial is located at the southern end of Hyde Park which is located on the easter edge of the Sydney central business district. It is the focus of commemoration ceremonies on Anzac Day, Remembrance Day and other important occasions.
"The building is constructed of concrete, with an exterior cladding of pink granite, and consists of a massed square superstructure with typically Art Deco setbacks and buttresses, punctuated on each side by a large arched window of yellow stained glass, and crowned with a ziggurat-inspired stepped roof. It is positioned atop a cruciform pedestal within which are located administrative offices and a small museum. The building's exterior is adorned with several bronze friezes, carved granite relief panels and 20 monumental stone figural sculptures symbolizing military personnel.
The interior is largely faced in white marble, and features a domed ceiling adorned with 120,00 gold stars--one for each of those men and women from New South Wales who served during World War I.
The Hall of Memory is the main feature of the Anzac Memorial. It is a circular space 48' in diameter with a domed ceiling 85' above.
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| Ceiling with gold stars |
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| Closer up view of stars |
To see the next sculpture, you look down "The Well of Contemplation" The main focus of the interior is Rayner Hoff's monumental bronze sculpture of a deceased youth, representing a soldier, held aloft on his shield by a caryatid--three female figures representing his mother, sister and wife. It is located in the Hall of Silence "so that all who enter the must gaze down upon it, thereby making physical and mental acknowledgement of the spirit which it symbolizes..."The male figure's nudity was considered shocking at the time of the monument's opening and it is said to be the only such representation of a naked male form within any war memorial.
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| "Sacrifice" by Reynor Hoff |
The Flame Room is a tiny enclave in the eastern wall of the Hall of Memory. It houses a Flame of Remembrance burning in a flat dish mounted on a pedestal. In the room are the flags of Australia, New Zealand and NSW. The Flame is a symbol of eternal life. The Flame of Remembrance at the Anzac Memorial burns to symbolize the gratitude of the Australian people to those who gave their lives in the service of our country in time of war.
This wreath of dedication was the one placed by His Royal Highness Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester on November 24, 1934.
The last thing that I though was really neat and thought provoking was when you walked into the Memorial, this is what you saw. Despite a lot of people being on the steps and a few in the Memorial, it was actually pretty quiet which I think shows a lot of respect.
Hope you enjoyed this post. Sorry for all the history lessons with these.
Ann
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