Building Name

El Alamein Memorial

Date
1954
District/Town
Memorial
County/Country
Egypt
Work
New Build

Inaugurated in 1954 the memorial was built by the Imperial War Graves Commission on land offered to the Commission by the people of Egypt. Situated north of the original cemetery where 8,000 soldiers had already been buried, an impressive shrine was gradually erected made up of a series of cloisters stretching on an east‑west axis for almost 90 metres.  Sir Hubert Worthington made full use of local building materials in its construction, mostly the white limestone taken from nearby quarries. Only the pavings and copings made of Travertine marble were imported from Italy. The memorial's inside walls were lined with the fixed panels of Portland stone bearing the 11,945 names of the fallen soldiers.

Field Marshal Viscount Bernard Law Montgomery unveiled the memorial on 24 October 1954. Coverage of the event was carried live by BBC's World Service - itself considered a technological feat.