Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Chapel of French Remembrance, located in Bouchavesnes-Bergen in the Somme, was built in 1923 on the initiative of the family of Lieutenant Jean du Bos, who died in battle in September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. This memorial, erected near the national necropolis of Rancourt, honours the French soldiers who disappeared during the battles of Picardie between 1914 and 1918. The project was initially carried by Madame du Bos, the lieutenant's mother, and then taken over after her death by Marshal Foch, who inaugurated the monument in 1923.

The chapel, conceived as a memorial in the absence of a national monument for these battles, bears on its tympanum an inscription dedicated to fallen soldiers. Its exterior walls bear the names of the units that fought in the region, while the interior houses stained glass windows made by Mauméjean workshops, representing historical figures such as Jeanne d'Arc or Thérèse de Lisieux. These stained glass windows and the chapel itself have been protected as historical monuments since 1996 and 2016.

Originally privately owned, the chapel was transferred in 1937 to the association Le Souvenir Français, which has been managing it since then. Each year, a commemorative ceremony is held on the second Sunday in September. An adjacent interpretive centre, open seasonally, explores the role of religions during the First World War, providing historical and sociological insight into their influence on soldiers and civilians.

The site is part of a landscape marked by the national necropolis of Rancourt, which includes more than 8,500 remains of French soldiers, including those of World War II fighters. The chapel, through its architecture and its memorial vocation, symbolizes both the mourning of families and the national recognition of the victims of the conflicts of the twentieth century.

External links