Monument aux morts de la guerre1914-1918, situé au carrefour des rues du Monument-aux-Morts et de l'Isle, located in Sarliac-sur-l'Isle (Dordogne), is a modern edifice built in the 19th-20th centuries. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Erected from 1927 to the plans of the architect Robert Lafaye, this Périgourdin monument combines restraint and dignity: a tripartite rubble-stone wall features a sculpted medallion, nestled at the heart of a triangular square.
At the crossroads of Rue du Monument-aux-Morts and Rue de l'Isle, in Sarliac-sur-l'Isle, stands a discreet but moving tribute to the soldiers who fell in the Great War. Far from the massive monuments of the big towns, it is a perfect illustration of the way in which the rural communes of Périgord have managed to combine modest means with deep contemplation to honour their dead. The monument stands at the end of a square in the shape of an isosceles triangle, the particular geometry of which gives the whole a natural and rigorous setting. This planted setting, enclosed by a low stone wall, creates an intimate setting for remembrance, isolating visitors from the daily bustle of the village and inviting them to pause for a moment of remembrance. The architectural composition is based on a rubble stone wall pierced by three doors, a tripartite arrangement that evokes both the symbolic doors to the afterlife and the tradition of funerary triumphal arches. At its centre is a medallion sculpted by the artist A. Pugnet. Pugnet, whose work brings a humanist and personal touch to the monumental ensemble, reminding us that each engraved name refers to a face, a family, a history. Listed as a Historic Monument by decree on 21 October 2014, this memorial now enjoys well-deserved heritage recognition. Restoration of the gate and floor has restored its original coherence, without betraying the spirit of sobriety that characterises it. For the attentive visitor, this monument is an invitation to measure what the First World War represented for the villages of the Périgord, bled dry by four years of unprecedented conflict.
The monument is distinguished by its sober, well-ordered architectural composition, typical of rural memorials from the second quarter of the 20th century. Its central element is a stone rubble wall - a traditional building material in the Périgord region - pierced by three openings in the form of doors, giving the whole an appearance that is both austere and solemn. This tripartition, evocative of the triumphal arches of Antiquity revisited by Republican funerary vocabulary, visually structures the composition and guides the eye towards the sculpted medallion in the centre. The medallion, the work of sculptor A. Pugnet, is the only distinctive ornamental element in the composition. Created in bas-relief, it introduces a human and artistic dimension to an ensemble dominated by the minerality of the rubble. The triangular square in which the monument is set is enclosed by a low wall, delimiting a space for meditation distinct from the public domain, in the manner of a sacred enclosure. The overall design is in keeping with the aesthetic canons of the inter-war war memorial in France: no ostentatious monuments, use of local materials and careful integration into the landscape. The unusual triangular geometry of the square gives the site its own visual identity and optimises the effect of perspective from the crossroads, making the monument visible and legible from the two converging streets. Subsequent restoration of the gate and floor has restored the original formal coherence of the whole.
Monument aux morts de la guerre1914-1918, situé au carrefour des rues du Monument-aux-Morts et de l'Isle is located in Sarliac-sur-l'Isle, Dordogne department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, France.
Monument aux morts de la guerre1914-1918, situé au carrefour des rues du Monument-aux-Morts et de l'Isle dates back to a period built in the modern era (19th-20th century).
Monument aux morts de la guerre1914-1918, situé au carrefour des rues du Monument-aux-Morts et de l'Isle is currently closed to visitors.
