Monument allemand du cimetière Saint-Charles
The second square from the left of the Saint-Charles cemetery is dominated by a monument of ancient inspiration. Erected in concrete by the Germans in 1915, it then paid homage to the German soldiers buried all around, within a reserved enclosure, arranged in terraces.
With its transparency effects linked to the columns and side entrances, the monument evokes a door to heaven for the souls of heroes. The formal kinship with the Brandenburg Gate, erected in 1791 in Berlin, also deserves to be underlined.
Outside, the only elements of figured decoration are the stylized fruits which crown the side pillars. Inside, on the ceiling, there are two iron crosses and, in the center, the Pour le Mérite cross.
The entablature bears a poetic text by Joseph von Lauff:
Fighting for the Emperor and for the Empire, God took the earthly sun from us.
Now, freed from all earthly things, his eternal light illumines us.
Sacred be this place, which you have consecrated by bloody victims.
Three times sacred for us by the sacrifice of thanks.
The bodies of the soldiers were moved in the 1920s to the cemetery of Noyers-Pont-Maugis, and the surrounding wall was destroyed in 1937. The war memorial therefore remains today the only witness to this German necropolis; it is also among the most important memorial monuments built by the German army in occupied territory during the Great War.
The German monument is one of the 139 funerary and memorial sites from the Great War (Western Front) for which a request for inscription on the World Heritage List has been sent to UNESCO.
After a century of abandonment during which it greatly deteriorated, the monument was restored in 2017-2018 by the City of Sedan thanks to French (State and local authorities) and German (Federal State) public funds and a subscription supported by the Heritage Foundation.
Historical presentation desks are available on site in French, German and English.
The Monument is accessible free of charge during cemetery opening hours.
With its transparency effects linked to the columns and side entrances, the monument evokes a door to heaven for the souls of heroes. The formal kinship with the Brandenburg Gate, erected in 1791 in Berlin, also deserves to be underlined.
Outside, the only elements of figured decoration are the stylized fruits which crown the side pillars. Inside, on the ceiling, there are two iron crosses and, in the center, the Pour le Mérite cross.
The entablature bears a poetic text by Joseph von Lauff:
Fighting for the Emperor and for the Empire, God took the earthly sun from us.
Now, freed from all earthly things, his eternal light illumines us.
Sacred be this place, which you have consecrated by bloody victims.
Three times sacred for us by the sacrifice of thanks.
The bodies of the soldiers were moved in the 1920s to the cemetery of Noyers-Pont-Maugis, and the surrounding wall was destroyed in 1937. The war memorial therefore remains today the only witness to this German necropolis; it is also among the most important memorial monuments built by the German army in occupied territory during the Great War.
The German monument is one of the 139 funerary and memorial sites from the Great War (Western Front) for which a request for inscription on the World Heritage List has been sent to UNESCO.
After a century of abandonment during which it greatly deteriorated, the monument was restored in 2017-2018 by the City of Sedan thanks to French (State and local authorities) and German (Federal State) public funds and a subscription supported by the Heritage Foundation.
Historical presentation desks are available on site in French, German and English.
The Monument is accessible free of charge during cemetery opening hours.
Themes:
Services
Equipments
