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Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

From the end of World War I, an independent committee initiated the project of a memorial in Lens. In 1921, the municipal council relayed this initiative despite the financial challenges. The contest was won by architect L. Barthelet, whose proposal put forward a pacifist iconography, denouncing the devastation of the war. The original project even included waterfalls to evoke the perpetual memory of the victims.

Inaugurated in 1925, the monument was first installed on Cantin Square before being moved in 1972 to its current location at the Van Pelt roundabout. Its architecture, marked by an explicit critique of war, reflects the local traumas associated with the conflict. In 2009, it was included in the inventory of Historic Monuments, thus protecting its entirety as a communal heritage.

The location of the monument, now located 62 avenue Alfred Van Pelt, remains a central place of memory for the city of Lens. Its transfer in 1972 probably met urban or commemorative requirements, although the sources do not specify the exact motivations. The work, owned by the commune, embodies both a tribute to the dead and an artistic testimony against the violence of the war.

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