French Memorial
Pukeahu National War Memorial Park
THE PROJECT
This memorial will be a piece of France in New Zealand. The monument will honour the longstanding bonds between our two countries, the shared values and aspirations that have shaped our history. It will also provide a legacy to the new memories we are creating today together.
Florence Jeanblanc-Risler, French Ambassador in New Zealand
The horizontal tabula presents Chant de l’Honneur, by Guillaume Apollinaire. This poem is part of Calligrammes – Poems of Peace and War (1913-1916) published the year of Guillaume Apollinaire’s death.
A calligramme is a word or piece of text where the design and layout of the letters create a visual image related to the meaning of the words themselves. Chant de l’Honneur tells us the story of a young soldier who fought in the trenches of the First World War. It is a call for remembrance.
Beyond the tabula, the same sculptural form stands tall: Haere whakamua, titiro whakamuri. This Māori phrase broadly translates as ‘walking into the future, with our eyes open to the past’. It reminds us that we cannot see into the future, but we can look to the past for guidance, thus echoing the poet’s call for future generations to remember the human sacrifice on the battle fields of the First World War.
The tabula and standing form are made of local stone and crushed French Combe Brune stone from the shell-marked landscape of the Western Front.
Architect: Patterson Associates with Paul Baragwanath and Suzanne Turley
THE ARCHITECTS
The design of the French Memorial "Le Calligramme" was led by Auckland-based architectural firm Patterson Associates Ltd, comprising architect Andrew Patterson, architectural graduate Tom Dobson, artist Paul Baragwanath and landscape designer Suzanne Turley. The project was chosen from the 43 submissions received for the architectural contest, after the appraisal of a five-member jury.
LE CHANT DE L'HONNEUR
O poètes des temps à venir ô chanteurs
Je chante la beauté de toutes nos douleurs
J’en ai saisi des traits mais vous saurez bien mieux
Donner un sens sublime aux gestes glorieux
Et fixer la grandeur de ces trépas pieux
L’un qui détend son corps en jetant des grenades
L’autre ardent à tirer nourrit les fusillades
L’autre les bras ballants porte des seaux de vin
Et le prêtre-soldat dit le secret divin
J’interprète pour tous la douceur des trois notes
Que lance un loriot canon quand tu sanglotes
Qui donc saura jamais que de fois j’ai pleuré
Ma génération sur ton trépas sacré
Prends mes vers ô ma France Avenir Multitude
Chantez ce que je chante un chant pur le prélude
Des chants sacrés que la beauté de notre temps
Saura vous inspirer plus purs plus éclatants
Que ceux que je m’efforce à moduler ce soir
En l’honneur de l’Honneur la beauté du Devoir
17 décembre 1915
Guillaume Apollinaire
SONG
OF HONOR
O poets O singers of times to come
I sing of the beauty of our many sorrows
Fleetingly have I caught it yet far better than I
Will you give sublime meaning to these acts of glory
And capture the greatness of death made holy
A man throws grenades his whole body poised
Another eager to shoot joins in the shooting
Another arms dangling bears buckets of wine
And the priest-soldier shares the secret divine
For ye all I will tell how sweet the three notes
The oriole canon sings while you sob
Who will ever know how often I have wept
My generation for your sacred gift
Take my verses O my France and you Multitudes to Come
Sing what I sing ‘tis a pure song a prelude
To the sacred songs that the beauty of our time
Will inspire you to sing still more pure and bright
Than those I strive for tonight
In honour of Honour the beauty of Duty
17 December 1915
Translated by Sophie Caroline de Margerie
HE WAIATA WHAKAMĀNAWA
E ngā kairuri e ngā kaiwaiata o anamata
E maire nei au i te rerehua o ō tātou tini mamae
He kapo noa iho tāku, ko tā koutou nā ka pai noa ake
te whakanui i te aho atua o ēnei mahi korōria
Me te whakaahua tika i te mana nui o ēnei mate rangatira
He tangata ka whiu pohū e takatū ana te tīnana
He tangata anō ka hīkaka te pupuhi
Ko tētahi atu he kāho waina kei ngā ringa e tautau ana
Me te toa-tohunga e whāki ana i te muna atua
Mō koutou katoa taku kōrero i te wainene o ngā oro e toru
e tangi nei te kānana oriora i a koutou e tangi ana.
Ko wai ka tohu, aku hia nei tangi roimata
Ko tō koutou raupanga tapu mō taku reanga
Nei rā aku kupu e taku Parani e ngā Manomano o Tua
Mairetia taku waiata horomata nei he whakataki
i ngā waiata puaroa ka hua mai i a koutou i te rerehua o tō tātou ao
ka rōreka ake ka toari ake i āku e whai nei i te pō nei
hei whakamānawa i a Manawanui i te taiea o te Tūtika
17 Hakihea 1915
Nā Karena Kelly te whakamāori
PUKEAHU
NATIONAL WAR MEMORIAL PARK
Pukeahu National War Memorial Park in Wellington was created as the Government’s key project to acknowledge the centenary of the First World War. This was completed in time to be the centrepiece of Anzac Day commemorations in 2015. WW100, the centenary of New Zealand's participation in the First World War, will be marked over several years through a variety of commemorative activities and projects.
Have a look to the memorial location and construction ...
