Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Vimy Memorial

Another large ice sculpture was added in Confederation Park during Winterlude. This year marks the centennial of the Battle Of Vimy Ridge during the First World War. The battle, a key moment in Canadian history, raged between April 9th to 12th, 1917, and resulted in Canadian troops taking the ridge from German soldiers. The large memorial standing today on the battlefield in France is incorporated into this ice sculpture with a maple leaf. An icy variant on one of the statues the memorial's designer, Walter Allward, placed among that memorial, titled Canada Bereft, stands before the main sculpture. I took these shots on two different days; the last three shots were taken after we had some snow.

36 comments:

  1. Another beautiful series, William !

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just Googled the Vimy Ridge memorial William, it's hauntingly beautiful. Very lovely tribute in ice here.

    ReplyDelete
  3. So interesting to learn Canadian history through ice sculptures.
    VIMY. interesting.

    Janis
    GDP

    ReplyDelete
  4. so pretty. that is the polar bear, right? ( ;

    ReplyDelete
  5. @Karl: thank you!

    @Halcyon: indeed.

    @Marianne: thanks!

    @Grace: I would love to see Vimy someday.

    @Janis: yes it is.

    @Orvokki: thank you.

    @Marleen: it is.

    @Merisi: definitely.

    @Beth: yes, I wanted a shot with the polar bear in the foreground and the Vimy sculpture in the background. I liked having the worker blowing snow off the sculpture too.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Very neat carvings, wish I was that good

    ReplyDelete
  7. Topics for carvings ae unlimited. It's nice to see the vimy Ridge sculpture.

    ReplyDelete
  8. @Bill: I know I'm not!

    @Tanya: indeed.

    @Cloudia: you're welcome.

    @Red: it is, yes.

    @Sharon: I agree.

    ReplyDelete
  9. It must be so beautiful to see up close I real. All beautiful.
    Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  10. It's incredible that someone can copy such a memorial in ice. What a fantastic craftsman!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Beautiful. I have visited the memorial at Vimy three times now; it is breathtaking - and an emotional experience. I think the carving you show represents Canada, weeping for her lost youths?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Such pretty designs that seem to create a magical world in this wintry setting. Love the first one especially.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thank you for showing these, William!

    ReplyDelete
  14. @Carolann: you're welcome.

    @Norma: indeed!

    @Lowell: it's great work.

    @Linda: I think so, yes.

    @Mike: I'd love to see it myself. Yes, that's one and the same. Allward's plaster originals of his Memorial statues are in the War Museum, and that particular one is the one that I seem to gravitate most towards.

    @Gemma: thank you!

    @RedPat: you're welcome!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wall to wall ice and snow plus all the artistic opportunities it brings . Didn't realize how much creativity it offers. There's a lot to learn if I took the time to watch CDP posts.

    ReplyDelete
  16. A wonderful series with incredible ice sculptures. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I was gonna say. . . Did it snow or something? :-)

    ReplyDelete
  18. This is a beautiful ice sculpture with so much meaning to Canada.

    ReplyDelete
  19. @Julia: this festival really brings out a lot of creativity.

    @Bill: you're welcome!

    @Revrunner: lots of snow, and I doubt we're done with snowfalls for this season.

    @Denise: very cool indeed!

    @Pamela: I thought it was very fitting for this year.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I could repeat everything that has been said, but superb will do.

    ReplyDelete
  21. After seeing this (very nice!) and other memorials you've shown I wonder if the U.S. has any equivalent World War I memorials. I can't say that I've seen it comemmorated much.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Really nice! We couldn't do that here this winter. It's unusually warm.

    ReplyDelete
  23. @Mari: I certainly think so.

    @Kay: the US wasn't in that war for too long.

    @Jennifer: I certainly think so.

    @Linda: here winter is quite friendly to the ice carver.

    @Jan: I think so too.

    ReplyDelete