The Cenotaph stands in the middle of Whitehall in central London, designed by the architect Edwin Lutyens and serving as the principal national war memorial of the United Kingdom. Lutyens's design was first built as a temporary structure of wood and plaster for the Allied victory parade held in July 1919, but public reaction to the simple, unadorned monument was strong enough that a permanent version in Portland stone, matching the original design closely, was constructed and unveiled in 1920. The word cenotaph derives from Greek and means empty tomb, reflecting the monument's purpose of commemorating the war dead as a group rather than marking any individual burial, and its subtly tapered, entasis-curved surfaces, though appearing straight to the eye, were calculated using classical architectural principles Lutyens adapted from ancient Greek temple design. The Cenotaph remains the focus of the United Kingdom's annual Remembrance Sunday ceremony each November, when the reigning monarch and senior political and military leaders lay wreaths at its base.
Facts
Building Type LocationWhitehall, London, England 1 Completed Year Classification
Standing Status Building Type
Building Type (category) Connections
Has Building Type
Entity-backed identity for the building-type enum value this building already carries, resolved to an architecture concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The building-type fact itself stays on the building unchanged.
Uses Element
Source The Cenotaph, Whitehall, Wikipedia
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. The Cenotaph, Whitehall, Wikipedia
Opening paragraph
The Cenotaph is a war memorial on Whitehall in London, England.
Opening paragraph, location clause
a war memorial on Whitehall in London
Unveiling section
The permanent Cenotaph was unveiled by King George V on 11 November 1920
Design section
The structure rises to a height of just over 35 feet (11 metres)
Entity description and the lead/infobox of the Wikipedia article
The Cenotaph stands in the middle of Whitehall in central London, designed by the architect Edwin Lutyens and serving as the principal national war memorial of the United Kingdom. Lutyens's design was first built as a temporary structure of wood and plaster for the Allied victory parade held in July 1919, but public reaction to the simple, unadorned monument was strong enough that a permanent version in Portland stone, matching the original design closely, was constructed and unveiled in 1920. The word cenotaph derives from Greek and means empty tomb, reflecting the monument's purpose of commemorating the war dead as a group rather than marking any individual burial, and its subtly tapered, entasis-curved surfaces, though appearing straight to the eye, were calculated using classical architectural principles Lutyens adapted from ancient Greek temple design. The Cenotaph remains the focus of the United Kingdom's annual Remembrance Sunday ceremony each November, when the reigning monarch and senior political and military leaders lay wreaths at its base.
Uses Element: Stone, Introduction
The Cenotaph is built from Portland stone.
View the Source2. Wikidata: The Cenotaph
- Wikidata Q26388412, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)
- Wikipedia "The Cenotaph, Whitehall" intro (read live, w-fk-arch-rel2-0927c, R-K)
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