There are many types of memorials, not just the classic granite and statuary of the National War Memorial in Ottawa. There are 25 different classifications, listed below including such items as aircraft, anchors, antennae, bridges, buildings, certificates, flagpoles, fountains, gardens, helmets, lances, parks, pictures, rifles, street names and wall hangings. And yes, we want to track down each and every one of them. Does your church have a plaque dedicated to it’s members who served in a war? Does your high school have a scroll listing those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country? Many clubs such as Knights of Columbus, Lions, Probus and others may have something that lists their members. Take a look around and you may be surprised to find something in a hallway that you walk past every day.

 

a.      Arch: a curved structure usually used as an opening or a support for a bridge, doorway, etc. In the case of memorials, an arch is usually used as an entrance to a park, a garden or a memorial site.

 

b.      Bust: a sculpture of a person's head, shoulders and chest.

 

c.       Cairn: a pile stones or bricks, usually cemented together, roughly in the shape of a pyramid.

 

d.      Cenotaph: an overarching term which includes all memorials which remember those who have died (their bodies), but who are not entombed within the memorial. This covers many of Canada's military memorials and is not used to define any particular memorial under the category of "type".

 

e.      Columns: see " Pillars".

 

f.         Cross: often depicted as a Cross of Sacrifice based on the design of British memorial makers in the 1920s and 1930s.

 

g.      Diorama: a small-scale reproduction of a scene containing three-dimensional objects.

 

h.      Display: an exhibition of various memorial items, such as medals, photographs, etc.

 

i.        Headstone: a typical headstone as found in a cemetery. Looks like a stele, but is smaller and usually found in a cemetery or 1940-1941.

 

j.        Memorial: an object erected in memory of one or more individuals. In this project, the memorials include pertain to military remembrances of all nationalities and periods within Canadian borders.

 

k.       Monument: used in this project to define any memorial incorporating more than one of the single types of memorials listed here, such as items joined together, like a statue and a stone shaft or separate pieces still forming a single memorial, such as a cairn and a weapon.

 

l.        Mural: a painting made on a wall, often outside and usually a large image.

 

m.    Obelisk: a tall, tapering shaft, usually made of stone or cement.

 

n.      Perpetual Flame: an actual flame kept burning in remembrance of fallen military members.

 

o.      Pillars: slender, vertical columns usually made of stone or concrete.

 

p.      Plaque: an ornamental tablet usually fastened to a wall or a memorial but, occasionally, on their own. In memorials they are usually made metal.

 

q.      Pyramid: see " Cairn"

 

r.        Sarcophagus: an elaborately decorated coffin, usually made of cement of stone (if placed outdoors) (Tomb of the Unknown Soldier).

 

s.      Sculpture: items or forms created from various type of material, including stone and metal (see the accompaniment to the cross).

 

t.        Shaft (or stone shaft): a square column of stone or cement, often topped by a statue of other item.

 

u.       Slab (or stone slab): a piece or "chunk" or stone, usually ragged in appearance except for one side upon which a plaque or an inscription appears.

 

v.        Statue: the depiction of a person or animal, usually done in stone or metal.

 

w.      Stele (plural, Stelia): an upright slab of stone in the shape of a headstone, only larger, and not square like a shaft.

 

x.        Wall: a wall, usually made of wood, cement, stone or metal. Sometimes it is hung on a normal wall as a hanging memorial (see also TYPE).

 

y.        Weapon: various types of military weaponry, including cannons, guns, tanks and armoured and non-armoured vehicles.

What Qualifies as a Memorial?