Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
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Throughout history, many soldiers have died in wars without their remains being identified. In modern times, nations have developed the practice of having a symbolic Tomb of the Unknown Soldier that represents the war grave of those unidentified soldiers. They usually contain the remains of a dead soldier who is unidentified (or "known but to God" as the stone is sometimes inscribed) and thought to be impossible ever to identify, so that he might serve as a symbol for all of the unknown dead wherever they fell. Much work goes into trying to find a certain soldier, and to verify that it is indeed one of the relevant nation's soldiers.
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[edit] History
Perhaps the first memorial of this kind in the world is the 1858 Landsoldaten ("The Foot Soldier") monument of the First War of Schleswig in Fredericia, Denmark. Another early memorial of this kind is the 1866 memorial to the unknown dead of the American Civil War.
The modern trend was started by the United Kingdom in 1920 when she buried an Unknown Warrior on behalf of all First World War British Empire forces in Westminster Abbey. The coffin was followed into the abbey by the King-Emperor, George V and escorted by a guard of honour formed of one hundred recipients of the Victoria Cross[1]. Part of the inscription on the stone reads:
- They buried him among the kings Because he Had done good toward God and Toward His house[2]
Other nations followed this example. A famous tomb is the one in France under the Arc de Triomphe that was installed in 1921 honouring the unknown dead of the First World War, or the one in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada shadowed by the Canadian War Memorial.
These tombs are also used to commemorate the unidentified fallen of later wars. Monuments have been built as recently as 1982 in the case of Iraq, 1993 in the case of Australia, and 2004 in the case of New Zealand.
[edit] National examples
| Country | Location | Image | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | Metropolitan Cathedral in Buenos Aires | Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the Independence | |
| Australia | Australian War Memorial in Canberra |  |
|
| Austria | Heldenplatz in Vienna | ||
| Belgium | Colonnade of the Congress in Brussels | The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the base of the location. | |
| Bolivia | Monumento al Soldado Desconocido in La Paz | The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, center piece of the location. | |
| Brazil | Monument to the Pracinhas in Rio de Janeiro | The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the platform of the location. | |
| Bulgaria | Monument to the Unknown Soldier in Sofia |  |
|
| Bulgaria | Monument to the Unknown Soldier in Haskovo | ||
| Canada | Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial, Confederation Square, in Ottawa |  |
|
| Chile | General Manuel Baquedano Square in Santiago | Contains the remains of a soldier who died in 1881 during the War of the Pacific. | |
| Czech Republic | National Memorial on Žižkov (Vítkov) Hill in Prague | ||
| Denmark | Fredericia | Called Landsoldaten ("The Foot Soldier") monument. | |
| Egypt | Cairo | Also includes the tomb of President Anwar Sadat. | |
| Estonia | Cemetery of the Estonian Defence Forces in Tallinn. |  |
|
| Finland | Hietaniemi military cemetery in Helsinki | ||
| France | Beneath the Arc de Triomphe in Paris |  |
|
| Germany | Unter den Linden, Berlin | Within a 19th century guardhouse, the Neue Wache | |
| Greece | Syntagma Square (Constitution Square), Athens |  |
|
| Hungary | Heroes' Square, Budapest | ||
| Iraq | The Monument to the Unknown Soldier, Baghdad |  |
|
| India | India Gate, New Delhi |  |
Amar Jawan Jyoti (Flame of the Immortal Warrior) |
| Indonesia | Bandung | The Field of Honor is a memorial to unknown soldiers. There is also the Tomb of the Unknown (Dutch) Sailor in Kembang Kuning war cemetery in Surabaya. | |
| Italy | Rome, Piazza Venezia |  |
The Tomb of the Milite Ignoto in the Altare della Patria (Vittoriano) |
| Japan | Ryozen Kannon, Kyoto |  |
Monument erected in memory of the more than 48,000 foreign soldiers who perished on Japanese territory or on territory under Japanese military control. |
| Lithuania | Kaunas, Vienybės Square |  |
Tomb of Nežinomas kareivis, with remains of soldier who died in fights with Bolsheviks in 1919. |
| Malaysia | Tugu Negara, Kuala Lumpur | ||
| New Zealand | Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, National War Memorial in Wellington |  |
|
| Peru | Plaza Bolivar (Bolivar Square) in Lima | Contains the remains of a soldier who died in 1881 during the War of the Pacific. | |
| Philippines | Libingan ng mga Bayani (Cemetery of Heroes) in Manila | ||
| Poland | Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Marshall Józef Piłsudski Square in Warsaw |  |
Constructed as the arcade of Saxon Palace, which was destroyed in 1944. Contains the remains of a soldier who died between 1918 and 1920. |
| Portugal | Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Monastery of Batalha | ||
| Romania | Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Carol Park, Bucharest |  |
|
| Russia | Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Alexander Park, Moscow |  |
|
| Serbia | Monument to the Unknown Hero, Mt. Avala, Belgrade |  |
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| Slovenia | Monument to the Unknown French Soldier, French Revolution Square in Ljubljana | ||
| Spain | Obelisk to Second of May Uprising Heroes (in Spanish: Héroes del Dos de Mayo) and, since 1985 Monument to Fallen for Spain (Caídos por España), Madrid | _01.jpg/100px-Obelisco_Dos_de_mayo_(Madrid)_01.jpg) |
Built in 1840. It contains mortal remains of unknown combatants at Dos de Mayo Uprising |
| Syria | Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Damascus. |  |
|
| Turkey | Çanakkale Martyrs' Memorial (in Turkish: Çanakkale Şehitleri Anıtı) |  |
Erected for the unknown martyrs of the Çanakkale Front, which was the arena for the Battle of Gallipoli during World War I. Opened on 20th August 1960. Another monument at the same site is for the foreign soldiers (mostly Australian and New Zealand Army Corps [ANZAC]) lost in the same clash. |
| Ukraine | Dnieper Park, Kiev | ||
| Ukraine | Monument to the Unknown Sailor, Shevchenko Park in Odessa | ||
| United Kingdom | Tomb of The Unknown Warrior, Westminster Abbey in London | ||
| United States | Tomb of the Unknowns, Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia |  |
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| United States | Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier, Washington Square in Philadelphia |  |
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| United States | Tomb of the Unknown Confederate Soldier, Beauvoir, Biloxi, Mississippi | ||
| Venezuela | Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Carabobo Field, Carabobo |  |
[edit] References
- ^ Description at the Westminster Abbey website
- ^ Adapted from 2 Chronicles, Chap 24, Verse 16: "And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and toward God and his house."
