Ontario Cemetery, Sains-les-Marquion
The Sains-lès-Marquion cemetery, begun for Canadian burials and later enlarged with battlefield and German graves, is enclosed by rubble walls and entered at a corner through a diagonally arranged double gateway onto a patterned circular plateau, with graves aligned on an axis from Cross of Sacrifice to bench flanked by two very restrained Lutyens shelters.
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Description
The cemetery was begun after the capture of Sains-les- Marquion by Canadian troops. Graves of Canadian soldiers from Ontario lie in the original cemetery. After the Armistice, the cemetery was extended with graves from the battlefield and from German cemeteries in the vicinity. The cemetery is surrounded by a wall of rubble.
The cemetery has an exceptional entrance at the corner of two roads. The entrance is diagonally symmetrical and consists of two passages with posts of which one lies in an extension of an axis that runs from the entrance via the Cross of Sacrifice to a seat at the end of the cemetery. On the inside of the entrance there is a large round plateau with a hexagonal pattern of dark and light stone that calls to mind the Rotunda in Hestercombe Garden. The graves are laid out around the entrance axis. Most graves lie on the left of the entrance and the Cross of Sacrifice faces these graves. The bench is located between two similar small buildings that have been incorporated into the wall around the cemetery. They comprise a shelter and a storage space. The sober buildings have a very reserved appearance, which is characteristic of Lutyens’ work. The expression of the buildings is achieved by extending the piers and alternately allowing the main volume to retreat, so that the vertical perspective is emphasized. (Geurst, 2010, p.376)
Bibliography
Geurst, J. (2010) Cemeteries of the Great War by Sir Edwin Lutyens. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers.
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