Cenotaph

Category: Monument/memorial

Cenotaph

Facing the front entrance of the City Chambers is Glasgow's Cenotaph. The word cenotaph comes from the Greek word meaning "empty tomb", signifying that this is a memorial to people who have died but who are buried somewhere else.
In the case of war, this usually means that the dead are buried in a military cemetery near the place where they fell, such as the huge British Army cemeteries in France and Belgium. But in the spirit of rememberance, all towns have a memorial to the local men and women who were killed in battle. Glasgow's cenotaph was designed by the architect J.J. Burnet (1857-1938) and was unveiled, according to the inscription on the east face, on Saturday May 31st, 1924 by Earl Haig. Cenotaphs were erected in towns and cities all over Britain in the aftermath of the World War I, when so many troops did not return from the continent. As history shows, there was to be another World War, and many more dead are now also commemorated at cenotaphs from the 1939-45 War.

This example has the Glasgow Coat Of Arms displayed on the west face, a figure of St. Mungo, and a bronze sword which symbolises not only a weapon but also the Christian cross. On either side of the cenotaph are two great lions, proudly standing guard. Both the lions and the figure of St Mungo were made by the sculptor Ernest Gillick. Between the lions is a massive fern leaf, carved from a great flat slab, and inscribed with the word "PAX", Latin for peace. A cenotaph is a public place where people may stop and pay respects at any time, leave flowers or simply remember the dead. Every year, on the Sunday closest to the eleventh day of the eleventh month, at eleven am, people gather at the cenotaph for a Service Of Rememberence.

The 11th November, 1918, at 11am, was the day when peace agreements to end World War I were signed.