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Origin and history

The Etaples Military Cemetery, located north of Etaples on a dune site, was initially a training camp and cemetery for the rear-front military hospitals during the First World War. This memorial site, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens as early as 1918, extends over a levelled low prairie with graves, extended by a semicircular terrace. The high dune hosts a 70-metre-long terrace, adorned with the Stone of Remembrance, the Cross of the Sacrifice and two symmetrical pavilions in the shape of a triumphal arch, symbolizing sentries watching over the deceased. These architectural elements, inspired by ancient temples and triumphal arches, mark an innovation in Lutyens' work, combining for the first time classicism and memorial function.

The cemetery, visible from the old Paris-Boulogne railway, was designed to be one of the first visions of British soldiers landing at Boulogne-sur-Mer. Turned towards the sea and England, it offers stunning views of the Bay of the Canche and Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, integrating the landscape as a garden of contemplation, according to the British tradition. The implementation plans, finalized in September 1920, allowed rapid construction despite the challenges of the dune environment, with completion in the spring of 1922. The site, enlarged from the original cemetery, organizes the tombs in soft geometric shapes, a broken line of steles guiding the visitor towards the sea.

Ranked a Historic Monument and fully protected since 2017, the cemetery illustrates the symbolic importance of Commonwealth necropolises in France. Its architecture, combining geometric rigour and landscape poetry, reflects the desire to create a space of memory that is both solemn and soothing. The white stone of the pavilions, the half-masted flags and the arrangement on the balcony above the departmental road make it a unique place, where the tribute to the soldiers is part of a dialogue between land, sea and sky.

The choice of the dune site, a former training camp, also highlights its historic role in the logistic organization of the war. The surrounding military hospitals, now missing, recall that this cemetery was both a place of mourning and a testimony of the suffering endured at the back of the front. The proximity to the Boulogne-sur-Mer maritime station made it a necessary crossing point for wounded soldiers or on leave, reinforcing its emblematic character.

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