Monument aux morts
Monument
Monument aux morts, located in Thonon-les-Bains (Département 74), is a modern edifice built in the 19th-20th centuries. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Modern (19th-20th century)
- Location
- Thonon-les-Bains, Département 74, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 46.3695, 6.4812
- Mérimée Reference
- PA74000037
Erected in the heart of Thonon-les-Bains after the Great War, this monument to the dead, listed as a Historic Monument, pays solemn tribute to the children of the Chablais who fell for France, in an Alpine setting of rare dignity.
History
In the heart of Thonon-les-Bains, the main town in the Savoyard Chablais region, nestling between Lake Geneva and the mountains, stands a monument to the dead that soberly and forcefully embodies the collective memory of a community ravaged by the conflicts of the 20th century. Listed as a Historic Monument by decree on 13 March 2019, it bears witness to the belated but official recognition accorded by the French Republic to high-quality commemorative works, which for too long were regarded as mere street furniture. What sets this monument apart from so many others erected in the 1920s and 1930s across France is the quality of its execution and the coherence of its sculptural programme. At a time when every commune in France, large and small, was building a memorial, Thonon-les-Bains opted for an ambitious project, befitting the status of a bourgeois spa town with a penchant for lake tourism. The care taken with the sculpted details, the legibility of the composition and the nobility of the materials used make it a particularly accomplished example of the memorial art of the inter-war period. The experience of visiting it is imbued with a sober and profound emotion. Reading the names engraved in the stone - those of young Savoyards who had often only known the shores of Lake Geneva and the mountain pastures of the Chablais region - is a reminder that the Great War was a universal tragedy, experienced even in the most remote valleys. The monument is as much an invitation to meditation as it is to aesthetic contemplation. Set in an urban setting typical of Savoyard lakeside towns, the monument benefits from an environment that amplifies its memorial dimension. The proximity of the lake and the foothills of the Alps gives this commemorative site a special atmosphere, where the grandeur of the natural landscape meets the gravity of the sculpted motif. It's a place to visit in any season, but it's particularly striking during the 11 November ceremonies.
Architecture
The Thonon-les-Bains war memorial belongs to the corpus of commemorative works from the first half of the 20th century, a stylistic group that borrows from both the academic traditions of the 19th century and the formal innovations of Art Deco in the 1920s and 1930s. The typical composition of these buildings combines an ashlar base - granite, limestone or local stone, depending on the region - supporting a central stele or obelisk, possibly crowned by an allegorical figure sculpted in the round or in high relief. In the Savoyard context, quality war memorials often use local or regional materials: limestone from the Bauges, marble from Albens or blue stone from Lake Geneva. These material choices anchor the work in its region, while giving it a durability that defies time and Alpine weathering. The treatment of the surfaces - smooth for the inscribed parts, worked or moulded for the decorative elements - testifies to a high level of craftsmanship. The iconographic programme, the central element of any war memorial from this period, generally follows a well-established visual grammar: the figure of the dying or triumphant soldier, the grieving mother, the allegory of winged Victory or Peace, the Gallic cockerel. The inscriptions, engraved in carefully drawn capital letters, use the established formulas - "To our dead", "Dead for France" - before giving way to the litany of names, organised in alphabetical order or by year of death. Together, they form a memorial, patriotic and aesthetic device, perfectly in keeping with the artistic ambitions of the fading Third Republic.
Related Figures
Les soldats thononais morts pour la France (1914-1918), dont les noms sont gravés dans la pierreLe maire de Thonon-les-Bains en exercice lors de l'inauguration (années 1920), commanditaire civil de l'œuvreLe sculpteur auteur de l'œuvre commémorative, artiste régional ou national formé aux Beaux-ArtsLes anciens combattants de Thonon-les-Bains, acteurs des cérémonies d'inauguration et gardiens de la mémoireLes victimes de la Seconde Guerre mondiale dont les noms furent ajoutés après 1945L'Architecte des Bâtiments de France de Haute-Savoie, garant de la conservation du monument depuis 2019
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Monument aux morts located?
Monument aux morts is located in Thonon-les-Bains, Département 74 department, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, France.
When was Monument aux morts built?
Monument aux morts dates back to a period built in the modern era (19th-20th century).
Is Monument aux morts open to visitors?
Monument aux morts is currently closed to visitors.