Tower of the Dead - a photo on Flickriver

Tower of the Dead

            Inside the tower of the Douaumont Ossuary, Verdun

"The Douaumont Ossuary (French: Ossuaire de Douaumont) is a memorial containing the skeletal remains of soldiers who died on the battlefield during the Battle of Verdun in World War I. It is located in Douaumont-Vaux, France, within the Verdun battlefield [...]. It was built on the initiative of Charles Ginisty, Bishop of Verdun.

During the 300 days of the Battle of Verdun (21 February 1916 – 19 December 1916) approximately 230,000 men died out of a total of 700,000 casualties (dead, wounded and missing). The battle became known in German as Die Hölle von Verdun (English: The Hell of Verdun), or in French as L'Enfer de Verdun, and was conducted on a battlefield covering less than 20 square kilometres (7.7 sq mi).
[...]
The ossuary was officially inaugurated on 7 August 1932 by French President Albert Lebrun.

The architects of the ossuary were Léon Azéma, Max Edrei, and Jacques Hardy. George Desvallières designed the stained glass windows. The tower is 46 metres (151 ft) high and has a panoramic view of the battlefields. The tower contains a bronze death-bell, weighing over 2 tonnes (2.0 long tons; 2.2 short tons), called Bourdon de la Victoire, which is sounded at official ceremonies. It was offered by an American benefactor, Anne Thornburn Van Buren, in 1927. At the top of the tower is a rotating red and white "lantern of the dead", which shines on the battlefields at night. [...]" (Wikipedia)

In September 1984 the French President François Mitterrand and the German Chancellor Helmut Kohl met here for a major reconciliation ceremony. The photo of the two politicians holding hands in front of the entrance to the ossuary went around the world.

Taken in: France / Grand Est / Arrondissement de Verdun / Douaumont (show map)

Taken on: July 20, 2021

Tags:

Turm

Treppenhaus

Erster Weltkrieg

Verdun

Tower of the Dead

Douaumont

Treppe

stairs

stairway

monochrome

Jacques Hardy

architecture

shotcrete

b/w

Lothringen

WW I

Architektur

Mahnmal

monochrom

staircase

Ossuaire de Douaumont

Léon Azéma

Beinhaus von Douaumont

Max Edrei

Turm der Toten

Tour des morts

Beinhaus

tower

Gedenkstätte

Spritzbeton

2021

ossuaire

Lorraine

ossuary

Ossarium

s/w

France

Beton

concrete

battlefield

Schlachtfeld « less

Sets appears in: • Stairs/Staircases/Escalators • Verdun

Groups appears in: • Architecture • B&W more » • stairs • Concrete Architecture [Please read the rules] • Famous Architecture • Battlefields: Then and Now • Concrete • 20th Century European Battlefields • Flickr War and Memory in Art and Photography Gallery • Escaleras/Stairs • Stairs and stairwells of the World (Staicase) • Best Images In Black And White • Stairs / Treppen • Art of Monochrome • An Unlimited Black & White Photography Group « less

Camera: Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II, f/1.8, 1/20 sec, 8.8mm, ISO 125 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II
Lens:	8.8-36.8 mm
Aperture:	f/1.8
Exposure Time:	0.05 sec (1/20)
Focal Length:	8.8mm
ISO:	125
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 11.0.1 (Windows)
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