Hall of Memory (Birmingham)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hall of Memory

The Hall of Memory in Centenary Square in Birmingham , England is a war memorial designed by SN Cooke and WN Twist and built by John Barnsley and Son in May 1922. The hall was built in memory of the 12,320 citizens of Birmingham who died in the First World War .

Model for the planned development in the vicinity of the hall. The Hall of Memory can be seen at the bottom right.

The hall was built over the filled canal basin of Gibson's Arm. The city council acquired this site in order to build new administration buildings, the mayor's house, a public library and a concert hall. The plans were abandoned with the outbreak of World War II . Only Baskerville House was half completed.

Bronze statues by Albert Toft

The Portland stone foundation was laid on June 12, 1923 by Edward VIII , then Prince of Wales . The cost of construction was £ 60,000 and was covered by public donations. The memorial was opened on July 4, 1925 by Prince Arthur of Connaught in the presence of a crowd of 30,000. The four statues by Albert Toft outside the hall represent the British Army , Royal Navy , Royal Air Force and Women's Services.

Inside are three bas-relief panels (155 cm × 223 cm) by William Bloye: Call (departure for war), front line (battle), return (return of the wounded). They bear the inscription:

"OF 150,000 WHO ANSWERED THE CALL TO ARMS 12,320 FELL: 35,000 CAME HOME DISABLED
AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING WE WILL REMEMBER THEM
SEE TO IT THAT THEY SHALL NOT HAVE SUFFERED AND DIED IN VAIN + * +"

"OF 150,000 WHO FOLLOWED THE CALL ABOUT THE WEAPONS 12,320: 35,000 RETURNED HOME
DISABLED DURING THE SUNSET AND IN THE MORNING WE WILL
REMEMBER YOU THAT YOU DO NOT LIT AND DIE FOR FREE + * +"

There is also a list of fallen soldiers in book form designed by Sidney Meteyard .

After it had been listed as Grade II in the list of monuments up to then , the hall was added to the highest category Grade I in November 2014 .

When Centenary Square was laid out at the Hall of Memory in 1989, the First World War Memorial Colonnade , which was built in 1925, was moved from there to the site of St Thomas Church , which was largely destroyed in World War II and which was subsequently redesigned as St Thomas' Peace Garden .

literature

  • Pevsner Architectural Guides - Birmingham , Andy Foster, 2005, ISBN 0-300-10731-5
  • Public Sculpture of Birmingham including Sutton Coldfield , George T. Noszlopy, edited Jeremy Beach, 1998, ISBN 0-85323-692-5
  • A History of Birmingham , Chris Upton, 1993, ISBN 0-85033-870-0

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Norman Bartlam: Broad Street Birmingham . Sutton Publishing, 2002, ISBN 0-7509-2874-3 .
  2. ↑ Obituary (Sidney Harold Meteyard) . In: The Birmingham Post . April 7, 1947.
  3. ^ Four war memorials given Grade I listing for Armistice Day , The Guardian , November 11, 2014

Web links

Commons : Hall of Memory (Birmingham)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 52 ° 28 ′ 46 "  N , 1 ° 54 ′ 25.3"  W.